Yourlawyer.com (Burn Injuries News)

GE Ranges Recalled for Fire, Burn Hazard

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

General Electric (GE Consumer & Industrial, of Louisville, Kentucky) has recalled about 28,000 of its GE Profile™ Freestanding Dual Fuel Ranges due to fire and burn hazards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced.

The wiring in the rear of the GE Profile™ Freestanding Dual Fuel Range can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. GE is aware of 47 reports of overheated wiring, including 33 reports of wiring that caught fire. Of these, one fire caused structural damage to the home and there have been 14 reports of minor property damage. To date, no injuries have been reported.

This recall involves GE Profile 30” Freestanding Duel Fuel Ranges. The ranges, which were manufactured in Mexico, were sold in white, black, bisque, and stainless steel. The following model and serial numbers can be found on the left inside corner of the bottom drawer:

GE Profile Brand: Model number begins with J2B900; serial number begins with LD, MD, RD, SD, TD, VD, ZD, AF, DF, FF, GF, HF, LF, MF
GE Profile Brand: Model number begins with J2B915, serial number begins with MF, RF, SF, TF, VF, ZF, AG, DG, FG, GG, HG, LG, MG, RG, SG, TG, VG, ZG

The recalled GE Profile 30” Freestanding Duel Fuel Ranges sold at department and appliance stores nationwide from June 2002 through December 2005 for between $1,300 and $2,000.

The CPSC is advising consumers to immediately stop using the recalled GE Profile 30” Freestanding Duel Fuel Range ovens and contact GE for a free repair. The CPSC noted that consumers can continue to use the cook-top burners. GE can be reached toll-free at (888) 352-9764 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday ET, or at its Website at www.geappliances.com

In mid-2007, government regulators announced that GE was recalling 2.5 million dishwashers because the liquid rinse-aid could leak from its dispenser onto the dishwasher’s internal wiring which could cause an electrical short and overheating, posing a fire hazard to consumers. That recall followed nearly 200 reports of overheated wiring, including 56 reports of property damage. There were 12 reports of fires that escaped the dishwasher. That recall involved GE dishwashers sold under the brands Eterna, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint, and Sears-Kenmore.

In late December 2007, GE recalled about 92,000 of its Built-In Combination Wall and Microwave Ovens due to fire hazard because the door switch in the microwave oven could overheat and ignite plastic components in the control area, posing a fire hazard to consumers. The lower thermal oven did not pose a hazard. In that recall, GE was aware of 35 incidents of minor property damage and one incident in which a fire damaged adjacent kitchen cabinets.

DaimlerChrysler recalls nearly 111,700 Jeeps on faulty seat warmers

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

DaimlerChrysler will recall nearly 111,700 Jeep Grand Cherokee sports utility vehicles, after a faulty seat warmer led to fires in 32 of the cars, the automaker said.

No injuries or accidents were reported resulted from the flaw, which affects 2003 and 2004 Grand Cherokee models.

The company said it began using carbon fiber seat heat elements in place of resistive wire heating elements in September 2002. The seats also used a toggle switch that can be locked into place.

If left on however, those elements can become hotter than intended, which can degrade the adhesives in the seat and ignite, the carmaker said in a report to a federal safety regulator.

"Prolonged operation via the latching switch could lead to an overheating of the seat cover and the potential ignition of materials left on the unoccupied seat," DaimlerChrysler said.

CPSC and Big Lots Stores Inc. Announce Recall of 233,000 Sets of Tea Light Candles that Pose Fire and Burn Hazard

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Big Lots Stores Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, have announced the recall of some 233,000 sets of Harvest Brand Tea Light Candles because the candles can burn with a high flame and melt the plastic holders. This poses a fire and a burn hazard to consumers.

Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately.

The recalled candles were manufactured in China and sold at Big Lots stores exclusively nationwide from July 2005 through October 2005 for about $1.

To date, Big Lots and CPSC have received four reports of incidents, three involve minor property damage. No injuries have been reported. The recalled red tea light candles are apple scented and have the brand name “Harvest” on the front packaging. Item number A5023 is written on the bottom of the packaging. The candles were sold in sets of six candles per package.

The tea light candles measure 1½-inches wide by ¾-inch high. Each of the candles comes in a plastic holder.

Consumers should stop using the tea light candles immediately and return them to the nearest Big Lots store for a full refund.

For additional information, consumers can contact Big Lots at (800) 244-5687 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit Big Lot’s Web site at www.biglots.com.

CPSC and Victoria's Secret Direct Announce Recall of Silk Kimono Tops that Pose Burn Risk

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0800

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Victoria’s Secret Direct, of Columbus, Ohio, have announced the voluntary recall of some 500 Silk Kimono Tops manufactured in the United States by Single of Los Angeles, California. Consumers should stop using the product immediately.

Of the 500 units manufactured by Single, 57 were sold to consumers by Victoria’s Secret Direct. No incidents have been reported to date.
The kimono tops are made of fabric that fails to meet mandatory standards of fabric flammability in violation of the federal Flammable Fabrics Act. The sheer outer shell fabric of the kimono top can readily ignite and present a risk of burn injuries.

The recall involves the Silk Kimono Top, sold as catalog/Web site item number 194-860. This is a two-piece garment with a kimono outer shell and an orange inner camisole.

The outer shell’s sewn in label states the following: “Single, 100% Silk, RN 80763, Made In USA, Dry Clean Only.” A separate label shows the item number 194-860. The Silk Kimono Tops were sold in paisley print pattern with metallic threads.

The recalled items were sold through Victoria’s Secret Direct catalogs and Web site only from November 2005 through December 2005 for about $138. These garments were not sold at Victoria’s Secret stores.

Consumers should stop wearing the garment immediately. Contact Victoria’s Secret Direct for information on returning the kimono top and to receive a refund and $50 gift card.

For more information, call Victoria’s Secret Direct’s toll-free consumer hotline at (877) 260-8419 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Royal Oak hospital to pay $1.1 million for burned boy

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

A Royal Oak hospital has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit over a fire that burned a premature baby.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Gene Schnelz on Tuesday approved the settlement between the parents of Nathan Laporte, now 8, and William Beaumont Hospital.

In May, a jury awarded $8.25 million to the family, but state-mandated caps on such awards reduced the award to about $570,000.

Craig and Shelley Laporte of Macomb County's Macomb Township said Nathan, a quadruplet, suffered serious burns and long-term lung damage in a fire when he was in a premature baby at the hospital. Nathan cannot talk or dress himself or breathe on his own and has learning disabilities.

The fire happened in 1997, about three months after his birth, when a doctor at Beaumont used a surgical cauterizing tool around a respirator and sparked a flash fire.

The hospital has acknowledged and apologized for the fire and the burns but said the lung damage stemmed from complications of Nathan's 16-week premature birth, not the fire.

Prominent personal injury lawyer Geoffrey Fieger represented the parents.

"We're ready to focus on our everyday life, our children, the important stuff," Shelley Laporte told the Detroit Free Press. "This is not the divine justice we were hoping for."

Deep Fryer Dangers

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

In some families, it's not Thanksgiving if the turkey is not deep fried.

"We've been deep frying turkeys for about four years," said East El Paso resident, Fernando Loya.

Some people do it because it's convenient. A turkey can be ready in half the time it takes with a conventional oven.

"The reason we deep fry it is because it adds more flavor to the turkey and you can add stuffing to it," said Loya.

The turkey may be tasty but the deep fryer can be dangerous.

"Two of the major reasons are you're dealing with a dangerous appliance and a propane tank. You're dealing with boiling oil and there's a danger of oil splashing," said El Paso Fire Department Lt. Mario Hernandez.

Experts warn if you overfill the pot or put in a turkey that's still partially frozen, the oil can bubble over, catching fire and engulfing the pot in flames.

And that's what happened to a Las Cruces family last year. Fortunately no one was hurt, but their home was in shambles. Fire officials said the oil in the deep fryer caught fire and spread up the porch and into the ceiling.

"A couple of biggest mistakes with turkey fryers, not only locally but national wide, is they put these fryers too close to combustibles," said Hernandez.

And because of this danger and its consequences, some families stay away from deep fried turkeys.

"We've never done it in the past, it can be dangerous if you don't follow the instructions the way your supposed to," said El Paso resident Dolores Garcia.

Fire officials recommend families read all the instructions before getting started.

You should set up in a well ventilated area with a flat stable surface.

Be careful when removing the turkey because that's when there's the most potential of injury or fire.

Burn Risk Prompts the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and The Holmes Group to Expand Recall of Slow Cookers to 2.6 Million Units

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The CPSC, in cooperation with The Holmes Group of Milford, Massachusetts, has announced the recall of approximately 2.6 million Rival® Slow Cookers manufactured in China. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately.

The handles on the base of the slow cookers can break, posing a risk of burns from hot contents spilling onto consumers. These Rival® Slow Cookers, sold from January 1999 through May 2002, were previously recalled for the same hazard. The recall has now been expanded to include all units manufactured before September 2004.
CPSC has received a total of 126 reports of handles breaking, including 33 reports of consumers who reported burn injuries from the hot contents of these slow cookers.

The recall includes Rival® Crock-Pot® slow cookers with model numbers 3040, 3735, 5025, 5070, and 5445. The model number is printed on the UL label located on the bottom of the base.

The recalled Rival® slow cooker has a removable ceramic bowl that sits inside of a metal base. The Rival® logo is printed on the front of the unit above the control knob. The bases are round or oval shaped and were sold in various colors and designs.

A date code is stamped on the side of one prong of the power plug. The first two digits represent the week of manufacture and the last two digits represent the year of manufacture. Any plug with a date code from 0199 (1st week of 1999) to 3504 (35th week of 2004) is included in this recall or the previous recall.

The recalled items were sold at Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, and additional discount department stores nationwide from January 1999 through May 2005 for between $15 and $40.

Consumers should immediately stop using the product and contact The Holmes Group to receive instructions on receiving a replacement base.

For additional information visit The Holmes Group’s Web site at www.rivalrecall.com or call (800) 299-1284 anytime.

California Woman Files Suit Against Starbucks

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

A La Verne mother is suing Starbucks for selling a glass coffee-maker that shattered and scalded her three-year-old daughter.

According to the lawsuit filed in Pomona Superior Court, Ann Marie Crowder bought a Bodum brand coffee maker from a Starbucks shop one or two years ago. Her daughter, Destiny, was standing near the kitchen counter September 16th when the accident happened.

The lawsuit alleges personal injury, product liability and emotional distress, and it also names Bodum the European manufacturer of the coffee maker as a defendant.

Crowder's attorney believes there was a defect in the glass or in the base of the coffee maker. He says Starbucks is liable under a California law that makes the distributor of a defective product equally liable as the manufacturer.

Teenager Dies From Burn Injuries

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

A McGuffey High School student died Tuesday in a Pittsburgh hospital, four days after suffering injuries in a garage explosion.

The student, died from burns that covered 90 percent of his body, a spokesman with the Allegheny County coroner's office said.

The student was with his friend when an explosion occurred. Taylorstown fire Chief Bill McDonough said the two teenagers were cleaning the garage.

Exploding Cell Phones a Growing Problem

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Curtis Sathre said it was like a bomb going off. His 13-year-old son Michael stood stunned, ears ringing, hand gushing blood after his cell phone exploded. Safety officials have received 83 reports of cell phones exploding or catching fire in the past two years, usually because of bad batteries or chargers.

Burns to the face, neck, leg and hip are among the dozens of injury reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received. The agency is providing tips for cell phone users to avoid such accidents and has stepped up oversight of the wireless industry. There have been three voluntary battery recalls, and the CPSC is working with companies to create better battery standards.

"CPSC is receiving more and more reports of incidents involving cell phones, and we're very concerned of the potential for more serious injuries or more fires," said agency spokesman Scott Wolfson.

U.S. phone makers and carriers say most fires and explosions are caused by counterfeit batteries and note that in a country with some 170 million cell phone users, the number of accidents is extremely low.

"Is it a problem? It has turned up, you bet. But statistically it is extraordinarily rare," said John Walls, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. "But the fact that it has happened certainly has the industry's attention."

Some consumer advocates say the cause goes beyond bad batteries making their way to the market. They point to the increasing pressure on battery and phone makers to fit more capabilities into small instruments.

"If you're cramming more and more power in a small space, what you're making is a small bomb," said Carl Hilliard, president of the California-based Wireless Consumers Alliance, which has been tracking incidents of cell phone fires and explosions.

Though legitimate batteries can go wrong, there is a greater chance that poorly made, counterfeit ones will lack safety devices to detect overheating or overcharging. The lithium-ion batteries found in most cell phones can overheat if, for example, heat vents are covered.

The CPSC is trying to determine if improved venting is enough by itself to ensure safety. "We have seen temperatures as high as 600 degrees, and you can have a torch-like effect if these batteries don't function properly," Wolfson said.

The commission has announced three battery recalls since January, one from Verizon Wireless and two from Kyocera Wireless Corp. Kyocera's first recall was blamed on a supplier whose standards had slipped. The other recalls were attributed to suppliers bringing counterfeits into distribution chains.

Kyocera, which recalled 1 million batteries last month, said it has changed vendors and doubled efforts to test its own batteries.

Hoping to address problems that may lie beyond their supply lines, members of the wireless industry began collaborating last week with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standard-setting organization, to create voluntary design and performance standards for all batteries.

"There needs to be high-quality batteries for these cell phones. You have a lot of power in a very small product, so it's really key," said Wolfson of the CPSC, which is participating in the meetings between wireless industry members and IEEE.

Carriers and manufacturers also are urging cellular users to exercise reasonable care of batteries, chargers and phones and to purchase them directly from phone companies rather than secondhand dealers or off the Internet.

But even following those recommendations sometimes isn't enough, as bad products inevitably find their way onto store shelves.

Angela Karasek, a 21-year-old paralegal in Philadelphia, bought her Motorola phone and battery together from a Nextel store. She awoke one night a few weeks ago to what she described as a pinging sound and then saw fire. Her cell phone battery had blown out, igniting a doll about three feet away. She ran to her parents' room for help, and her father quickly put out the fire.

"I'm just a light sleeper, and for some reason I sat up and saw all the flames on the doll," Karasek said.

Marcelino Gonzalez of Brentwood, N.Y., said he suffered second-degree burns after his Kyocera phone exploded in his hand as he turned it on to make a call.

"If it was to my face it would have blown up in my face," said Gonzalez, 62, who has contacted a lawyer.

Michael Sathre, who is expected to fully recover from his wounds, was picking his fully charged Verizon LG cell phone off the floor when it exploded by his side. The family chose not to sue and has instead allowed the companies involved and a consumer group to come to their house to study the damage, in the hopes it won't happen to someone else.

"It took my son two months to decide to even be near a cell phone," said his mother, Cris. "But he needs one."

Burn Injury Lawyers

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Burn Injuries

In the United States, approximately 3.5 million burn injuries are reported per year. Medical professionals treat approximately 750,000 of the injuries; (100,000 are hospitalized). Of those hospitalized, 30,000 have major burns involving at least 25% of their total body surface. Approximately14, 000 burn injuries result in fatalities. Approximately 1.5 million burn victims sustain considerable or permanent disabilities resulting from their burn injury.

Burn injuries are second to motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Children, age’s newborn to two-years-old are most frequently admitted for emergency burn care in a hospital. The kitchen is the most frequent area in the home where burn injuries occur for children newborn to four. The next most frequent area is in the bathroom.

The National Burn Information Exchange indicates that after the age of 60, the risk of burn injury is greater than at any time since childhood and the average size of the burn is larger than for any other age group. Burns are one of the most expensive catastrophic injuries to treat. For example, a burn of 30% of total body area can cost as much as $200,000 in initial hospitalization costs and for physician’s fees.

For extensive burns, there are additional significant costs that will include costs for repeat admission for reconstruction and for rehabilitation. The most common burn injuries are:

Car Accidents
Gas Explosions
Scalding/ Hot Water
Electrical Accidents
Industrial Accidents
Gasoline Spills
Household Fires
Defective Citronella Candles
Lighters & Matches

Types of Burns:
First degree burns are minor burns involving only the top layer of skin. Sunburns are examples of first-degree burns. This type of burn is red and hot, but there is no swelling or blistering.
Second degree burns involve the top layer of skin as well as part of the layers underneath. The skin is a light red and blistery, somewhat swollen and moist and oozing. The pain is extremely severe.
Third degree burns involve all the layers of the skin. The burn will destroy the nerves and the blood vessels in the skin. There is very little pain at first. The burn area is white, yellow, black or cherry red. The skin will be dry and leathery. As the burns heal there will be dense scarring and possible skin grafting.

If you or a loved has suffered a burn injury, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified personal injury attorney.