Las Vegas Injury & Accident Attorney Blog

Winter is gone and summer is coming to Las Vegas and the rest of Southern Nevada. As the weather gets warmer, families are planning outdoor get-togethers like hikes, picnics, pool parties and barbeques. Unfortunately, some families may be unaware of a dangerous consumer good that could seriously ruin their outdoor summer fun. Last week, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission in conjunction with Health Canada and One World Technologies announced a wide ranging recall of gas grills imported by the Anderson, South Carolina that were manufactured in China. The grills have been found to leak propane gas, which could cause a fire or an explosion. If you have been injured or a relative was killed by a gas grill explosion in Las Vegas, and wish to recover money from lost work, pain and suffering and medical bills, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

The grills, sold nationwide and in Canada were shipped to Home Depots and Direct Tools Outlet stores were shipped in a quantity of approximately 100,000 units. The grills were branded STOK Island and STOK Quatro. The specific model numbers for the recalled grills are AZF (printed on the front regulator) and the numbers 1143 and 1046 on the back. At this time, there have been 569 reports of gas leaks, but no injuries have been reported. Consumers wishing to return their grills should call One World Technologies at 800-867-9624. Information can also be found on their website at www.stokgrills.com. Many of these grills were sold at the 13 Home Depot retailers in the Las Vegas area. If you have been injured in a Clark County grill explosion, Benson and Bingham can help represent you so you aren’t financially injured.

Benson and Bingham was founded in 2003 to represent Southern Nevadans in personal injury cases across the state. We pride ourselves on our commitment to service and were responsible for reimbursements to our clients of over $24,000,000 in 2010 and 2011.

Share and Enjoy

Nearly 600 dogs across the United States and Nevada have mysteriously fallen ill. One commonality the dogs all share is recently eating dog chicken flavored dog treats manufactured in China. Many different brands of the treats have ties to the ailing pets: Waggin’ Train Jerky Treats, Canyon Creek Jerky Tenders and Milo’s Kitchen Home-Style. The manufacturers of the treats, Del Monte and Nestle Purina, have stated they believe the dog food to be safe and that the food is rigorously tested. If your dog has recently fallen ill, and you suspect defective dog treats, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today. We can help you get reimbursed for veterinary bills, pain and suffering and even lost work.

The Food and Drug Agency is investigating how exactly what about the treats may be ailing the dogs. Since 2007, the FDA has issued three cautions regarding pet products manufactured in China. The ailments the FDA suspects have been caused by the potentially poisoned dog jerky include liver disease, kidney failure and even Franconi syndrome. Dogs started falling ill in October and reports continued through December. The FDA is currently holding off on a recall due to the facts that no specific products have been definitively tied to the pet illnesses. A poisoned dog can cause a significant financial hardship on his or her owners. If your Las Vegas pet has suffered sickness from food poisoned food it may have eaten, you may be able to sue for reimbursement.

The attorneys at Benson and Bingham know how devastating it can be when any member of the family is sick – and we know that our pets are an integral part of many families. Our practice has been successful because we focus on building strong lasting relationships of trust with our clients. In fact, our two founding partners are family, cousins Joseph L. Benson II, Esq. and Ben J. Bingham, Esq.

Share and Enjoy

In Late January, multi-national pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced, in coordination with the US Food and Drug Administration, the recall of approximately 1 million birth control pills. The miss packaged pills provide no health risks; however, they do increase the risk of pregnancy for those taking the medication. The pills, a 28 day regimen including 21 doses of the medication and seven placebos were mislabeled. Customers who have the affected packages are warned to begin using a secondary form of birth control, contact their physician and return unused portions to their pharmacy for replacement. The extent of Pfizer’s legal exposure from the product recall is unknown – as the laws in many states could hold them liable for all the associated costs of the unwanted pregnancies. If you have taken the recalled Pfizer birth control and are pregnant with a new native Nevadan or were sickened by defective prescription or over the counter medication, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

There are many levels to Pfizer’s potential legal exposure. Should they have to pay for any unwanted pregnancies? Should it be for the medical costs and lost work up to the birth of the child? Should it include food, presents, clothing and education for the child of one of these unwanted pregnancies? What if the unwanted pregnancy resulted in a child with special needs? What if the woman was taking the birth control because she had evidence she and her partner would have a child with special needs.

If you are a Nevadan who has fallen victim to incorrectly prescribed or defective medication and wish to recover damages for healthcare costs, pain and suffering and lost work, Benson and Bingham have the legal experience to represent you fully. In 2010 and 2011, our attorneys were able to secure over $24,000,000 in damage awards for our clients. Please contact Benson and Bingham today for a free legal consultation.

Share and Enjoy

, The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and American Tack and Hardware Company announced on March 1, 2012 the recall of hundreds of thousands of light emitting diode night lights due to fire and burn danger. The New Jersey company, based in Saddle River, said that a short circuit in the LED can overheat, causing fire danger and resulting burns. The company has admitted to 25 incidents of the LED lights charring, smoking, burning and melting. While no injuries have been reported, it is important for consumers who own the night lights to contact AmerTac for to return the lights for a full refund. If you have been injured or your home has burned due to a defective nightlight from AmerTac, contact Benson and Bingham. Our Nevada licensed attorneys can help you recover reimbursement for injuries, to repair your home, lost work and pain and suffering.

There are three models of the AmerTac night light being recalled. The model or brand names on the packaging are Amerelle, Amertac and Everyday Basics. The model numbers on the lights’ packaging are 71190, 327895 and 076092. Finally, the model numbers marked directly on the defective AmerTac night lights are 71190 or 71190A. These LED night lights, manufactured and shipped from China, posing a fire hazard were sold in Nevada between March 2009 and October 2010. They retailed for $6. If your home was damaged or you or a family member was injured by a defective LED night light manufactured by American Tack and Hardware Company, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

Joseph Benson II and Ben Bingham are the lead attorneys at one of Southern Nevada’s most successful personal injury law firms. As cousins, Mr. Benson and Mr. Bingham rely on their life long familial relationship to maintain the communication necessary for a successful law firm. The close relationship these attorneys have with each other also extend to the relationship they work to develop with their clients. These methods have brought significant reimbursements for the firm’s clients – over $24,000,000 in 2010 and 2011

Share and Enjoy

Citing a potential fire hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced a recall of gas powered blowers in conjunction with their manufacturer, ECHO, Inc. from Lake Zurich, Illinois. The recall cited a potential fuel line issue which could lead to fuel leaking from the machine during use. This fire hazard poses a significant risk In continually dry Nevada, an area already prone to wildfires. For safety reasons, the CPSP cautions to discontinue use of the equipment and contact ECHO for instructions on how to return the unit to an authorized service dealer. If you have been injured by an ECHO Powered Backpack blower, and wish to recover medical costs, lost wages and remuneration for pain and suffering, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

Las Vegas and the rest of the state of Nevada are extremely dry desert climates, requiring homeowners to be extremely diligent in clearing away excess brush, tumbleweeds and dead plant matter. Reno in Northern Nevada, due to an extremely dry winter, has seen two significant wild fire events in the past 4 months. Should the ECHO Power Blower malfunction in many areas across Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, the potential for significant injury and damaged property is extreme. If you have experienced an ECHO Power Blower injury in Las Vegas, contact Benson and Bingham today to discuss your case.

Benson and Bingham are one of the most successful and technologically advanced personal injury law firms in Southern Nevada. However, the main reason for our success has not been because of our ability to use technology, but instead on our ability to develop trusting relationships with the clients we represent. We take pride in helping people during some of the worst periods of their lives. While we cannot promise a positive outcome to your case, the $24,000,000 we secured for clients in 2010 and 2011 illustrates how successful our approach has been.

Share and Enjoy

A jury has found two pharmaceutical companies, one Israeli based and one Illinois based, responsible for damages in Nevada stemming from a hepatitis C outbreak in Las Vegas four years ago.  The Clark County jury awarded Mr. and Mrs. Washington a total of $104 million dollars in a Las Vegas product liability suit originally developing at Las Vegas outpatient colonoscopy clinics.

Each and every day people come into contact with products in Las Vegas that fail or do not live up to the manufacturers promise.  Most of the time this shortcoming is not a serious problem, but occasionally it leads to situations like the one above in which a highly skilled Las Vegas product liability attorney is necessary.  From outright defective products to personal injuries suffered by Nevadan’s, the law firm of Benson & Bingham is ready and willing to serve the good people of Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada as they seek restitution for their Nevada personal injury damages.

As manufacturers constantly seek ways to cut corners and boost profits, it is often the consumer who is put at risk.  Personal injury suits in Nevada are not uncommon and often they can result in terrible harm.  Nevadans have a right to seek compensation for the personal injuries in Nevada they have suffered.  From spinal injuries to wrongful death and armies of corporate lawyers protecting their companies interests, product liability in Nevada is filled with challenging legal issues.  Remember that Benson & Bingham is here to represent you if you or someone you know find themselves in need of a top Nevada injury or product liability attorney.

Share and Enjoy

If you drive a Ford Windstar minivan in the 1998 to 2003 model years, you should contact an authorized Ford dealer without delay. Since August 2010, Ford has had some 1,000 reports of problems arising from an axle defect in its Windstar minivans, yet its response has been sluggish. These delays have been costly, tragically claiming at least one life.

The use of heavy road salt on highways can accelerate corrosion in the heat-treated metal of Windstar axles, causing them to crack and possibly fail without warning. As of last September, Ford had been informed of seven accidents resulting from the problem, with three injuries resulting from the automobile accidents. In October, a Massachusetts man died when his Windstar’s rear axle cracked in two and his vehicle hurtled into a building. A week after he was killed, a Ford vehicle recall notice arrived in the mail. To say that this was “too little, too late” is to miss the larger picture — Ford’s delays in addressing this problem are a scandal far more problematic than the defect itself, and the automobile manufacturer is running a great risk not only of a public-relations backlash but also of serious commercial negligence responsibility.

Indeed, although this vehicle recall situation is in its infancy, it has the potential to mature into a full-fledged scandal. An estimated 612,000 vehicles in North America are thought to be prone to this vehicle defect, which is serious enough in its nature to cause serious and possibly fatal motor vehicle accidents across the continent. Even worse, Ford has apparently been slow to act on reports of the defect, which could end up amplifying the fallout over the recall. As Ford’s investigation continues and possibly reveals more affected vehicles, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration will have to determine if the company’s recall response has been adequate. If the NHTSA deems the effort to be less-than-earnest, Ford may have to deal with government penalties and increased stigma in addition to the “PR” consequences of another Ford vehicle recall. If you are a Nevada driver harmed by one of the recalled Ford Windstar vehicles, contact us today for information about your legal rights.

Share and Enjoy

Another troubling round of automobile recalls affect Las Vegas drivers and have left them wondering if their vehicles are safe to drive. Automobile safety has generally increased over the last two decades, and many drivers have come to assume that their vehicles must be safe to even be allowed in a showroom. But as these latest recalls of Land Rover and Volvo vehicles show, car owners have to be vigilant and stay abreast of news developments to ensure that they are not stuck driving an unsafe car.

More than 7,400 Volvo automobiles from the last three model years (2009, 2010, and 2011) are being recalled due to a manufacturing error that allows the power-adjusted seats to adjust farther forward than intended. Cars are designed with specific parameters with regard to passengers’ positions within the vehicle to ensure that elements such as visibility, airbag deployment, and crumple-zone absorption are all optimized. If the seats in these Volvo S40, S60, V50, and XC60s are pulled too far forward, a passenger could be left vulnerable to injury in the event of an accident. Motorists assume (reasonably) that the maximum adjustment allowed by the car’s machinery is still safe; when these assumptions fail, car companies can face devastating cases of product liability arising from passenger injuries.

Volvo has also issued a recall for more than 100,000 vehicles worldwide whose airbags have a tendency to deploy differently than intended. These airbags may not deploy at all or may fail to properly guard passengers. The affected models are 2010 and 2011 S80, V70, XC60 and XC70. Nearly 9,800 U.S. vehicles are potentially included in the recall.

Another respected manufacturer — Land Rover — is also facing recall headaches. The Land Rover LR2, a luxury SUV, apparently also suffers from an airbag malfunction. The driver’s airbag may not deploy properly in the event of a crash, negating the vehicle’s many safety features and increasing the risk of serious spinal cord injury. Affected vehicles are from the 2010 and 2011 model years, nearly 3,000 SUVs.

If you have a vehicle that is potentially among those affected by these recalls, you should contact your automobile dealer for guidance on getting qualified maintenance. If you or a loved one have been hurt in a car crash involving one of these recalled vehicles, contact us right away for a consultation with one of our Nevada motor vehicle accident lawyers.

seat defect that can affect the deployment of the airbags. Late-model Land Rovers are being recalled in

Share and Enjoy

Several of our articles lately have focused on the holiday shopping season — let us not forget, the winter flu season is also upon us. Even though the climate in Las Vegas remains relatively warm and dry all year long, cooler weather throughout the western United States pushes people into closer contact with one another and increases the spread of infectious diseases. A few reminders about preparing for the flu season are in order.

Because infectious diseases such as the flu and viruses are often spread through the close contact of diverse groups of people, school children are often the first to fall ill. Managing a child’s sickness symptoms is always a difficult task — parents want to do everything possible to ease suffering, but they worry about doing more harm than good by using powerful prescription medications. It can also be difficult to gauge the “objective” level of discomfort a child is experiencing because they may lack a variety of experiences to help them assess their condition. But most troublesome of all is the challenge of properly allocating the medicine to a child without risking a drug overdose.

If the prospect of a medication overdose seems remote, think again. A recently released study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that over 98 percent of 200 popular over-the-counter medications for children came with a cup, syringe, or other dosing device that was not immediately compatible with the directions included with the medication. More than four in five medications gave instructions in one unit of measurement but graduated the dose markings in another; a quarter of medications came with a dosing instrument that lacked any markings at all.

Medications attempt to strike a balance between providing enough power to defeat the targeted symptom without taxing or poisoning the body; as such, the dosing guidelines are closely tailored to an individual’s size and condition. With smaller bodies and less hearty systems, children are more sensitive to the effects of an excessive dose. Add these facts to the fact that so many dosing cups are misleading, and many parents just grab the nearest spoon. If this sounds like a prescription for peril, you’re on the right track. If manufacturers of over-the-counter medicine allow this confusion to continue, they may face product liability cases in Nevada and nationwide.

Physicians, industry, and perhaps the government are all pushing for a standardization of medication guidelines in milliliters, which shall be matched in dosing paraphernalia. These changes have already begun and are expected to be completed within about a year. In the meantime, you should take care to ensure that you are giving no more medication to your child than is recommended. If you need further guidance, contact a healthcare professional. If you think that you or your child have been harmed by medication overdose related to inaccurate or insufficient or unclear directions, contact us for a free consultation and a more detailed discussion of your case.

Share and Enjoy

Last week Honda Motor Company recalled thousands of Honda Accords and Civics due to faulty gear shifter in the early 2000 models.  The investigation revealed the Honda’s key can be removed when the car is other non-Parked positions.  This will create a reverse situation if the car is left in Neutral or in the reverse position.  Just after this Honda recall, in a similar park to reverse case in Kingman, Arizona, A 6-week-old girl died after being run over in a driveway in Lake Havasu City on August 10, 2010. The Police Department Sgt. Joe Harrold said officers responded at 11:26 p.m. Monday to a home on Newport Drive and that a 24-year-old Lake Havasu City woman had parked her 2004 Ford pickup on an inclined driveway and that the vehicle rolled backward as she was unloading items from the passenger side.

Obviously, this case is under investigation as the cause of the the reversal, but truly this vehicle model has been plagued by issues surrounding the vehicle’s brake shift interlock device which allows for movement of the gear shifter when the vehicle is in the ON or MIDDLE key position without depressing on the brake pedal.  It is unclear to this author whether the 2004 is even available in a stick shift, or the circumstances of why the vehicle even was allowed to move given the location of the driver–in the passenger seat.   This is the exact auto injury case that Benson & Bingham will investigate for you should you suffer this unusual, but not unheard of, event.   Call Benson & Bingham today if you have experienced this type of automotive tragedy: 702-382-9797

Share and Enjoy