Dangerous or Defective Products

Published on: February 13, 2020

ACCIDENT INJURY REPORT: CHESAPEAKE ENERGY HAS SECOND EXPLOSION INCIDENT

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Bryan, Texas, February 8, 2020: A second explosion happened at one of Chesapeake Energy’s oil wells in the Eagle Ford Shale just two weeks after a Jan. 29 deadly explosion at a Chesapeake Energy oil well site in nearby Burleson County. Three men were killed and one man was left hospitalized in the Burleson incident. Bryan Maldonado, 25, and Windell Beddingfield died in what is the deadliest oilfield accident since January 2018.

Authorities are investigating the accident which occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday at a storage tank on the company’s Luther lease off Sandy Point and Old San Antonio Roads in a rural area of Brazos County about eight miles northwest of Bryan.

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Published on: February 3, 2020

ACCIDENT INJURY REPORT: Three Dead in Burleson County Oil Explosion

By Carabin Shaw

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Photo Credit: KWTX

(BURLESON COUNTY, Texas, Feb 3, 2020) Three oil field contractors have died and another is still in the hospital after an oil well blowout and the resulting fire in Burleson County, Texas.

The accident happened at a well site near Deanville, on County Road 127 and FM 60, southwest of Bryan on January 29th. The Chesapeake Energy owned well was undergoing major maintenance operations by contractors employed by CC Forbes and Eagle Pressure Control when the explosion occurred.

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Published on: January 27, 2020

ACCIDENT INJURY REPORT: Two People Killed in Houston Gas Explosion

By Carabin Shaw

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Photo Credit: KTRK

(HOUSTON, January 27, 2020) Two people were killed in a gas explosion in northwest Houston at a manufacturing warehouse on Friday the 25 at around 4:30 a.m. After the explosion the Houston Fire Department reported that 48 people had to be sheltered and 18 people were sent to local emergency rooms for injuries.

Officials have identified Gerardo Castorena Sr. and Frank Flores as the two victims who were killed in this fatal explosion.

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Published on: December 26, 2019

Boeing Outs it’s CEO After 2 Deadly 737 Max Crashes

By Carabin Shaw

December 24, 2020 – The recent decisions by Boeing to halt production of an obviously danger prone aircraft is a nice call to action in the world of safety. Often, it seems profits come before safety and it appears Boeing is attempting to put safety first in their decision despite the ripples that will no doubt be felt economically worldwide by Boeing and the transportation industry.

https://www.chron.com/business/article/Boeing-CEO-Dennis-Muilenburg-to-step-down-14927109.php

Published on: December 19, 2019

Boeing Halts production of Max 737

By Carabin Shaw

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Special Reporting: Jesse E. Guerra Jr. Of Counsel attorney with Carabin Shaw PC

The recent decisions by Boeing to halt production of an obviously danger prone aircraft is a nice call to action in the world of safety. Often, it seems profits come before safety and it appears Boeing is attempting to put safety first in their decision despite the ripples that will no doubt be felt economically worldwide by Boeing and the transportation industry.

Article New York Times – After Boeing Halts Max Production, Suppliers Wait for Fallout

Published on: December 13, 2019

Questions remain unanswered regarding Boeing’s 737 MAX Aircraft

By Carabin Shaw

Photo: Boeing
Special Reporting: Jesse E. Guerra Jr. Of Counsel attorney with Carabin Shaw PC

Boeing’s MAX Fixes Not Likely to Get FAA Approval Until February

Wow! Not sure where this leaves passengers wanting to feel safe boarding these planes in the future. It seems that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration have more work to do to help prevent future disasters These planes continue to be grounded until a safer solution arises. Let’s hope for all concerned that comes sooner than later. Not sure if Boeing will go back to the drawing board on this design since there seems to be a goal to find a less costly solution to the alleged design failures as opposed to starting from scratch on a new model aircraft. Thus far, two recent crashes occurred with Boeing’s 737 MAX Airplane despite known warnings of this designs airworthiness and control systems. A huge question remains as to how much the FAA and Boeing itself knew about potential problems with this aircraft.

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Published on: August 21, 2019

E-cigarettes and Vaporizers Present Serious Risks to Texas Adolescents

By Carabin Shaw

Smoking has long been known to present serious health risks to young adults. However, when the use of e-cigarettes, also known as vape pens, became popular a few years back, many young adults assumed that this new form of smoking was safer than traditional cigarettes. For several reasons, that is not the case. In fact, e-cigarette and vape pen accidents have been the basis of many Texas personal injury lawsuits.

Since the U.S. Fire Administration began keeping track of e-cigarette injuries in 2009, there have been 195 documented incidents of vape pens exploding. These incidents injured 133 people, and of those, 38 people required hospitalization as a result of their injuries. Most of these injuries consisted of chemical burns and blast injuries to the face, hands, thighs, and groin.

Vaping presents many of the same risks as smoking traditional cigarettes, and also carries several unique risks. For example, according to a recent report by WebMD, in 2018, a vape pen exploded in a teen’s face, breaking his jaw. Apparently, the pen exploded during regular use.

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Published on: March 21, 2019

Court Rejects Texas Case Claiming iPhone Caused Fatal Crash

By Carabin Shaw

In a recent case, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a Texas personal injury claim against Apple. The plaintiff alleged that a driver’s “neurobiological response” to a text message notification caused a fatal car crash.

According to the facts alleged in the plaintiff’s complaint, a text message came in that the at-fault driver looked at while driving on the highway. When the driver received the text message, she looked down at her phone to read the message. In doing so, she averted her eyes from the road. When she looked back up at the road, it was too late, and her car crashed into another car, which had two adults and a child inside. The two adults were killed and the child was seriously injured.

The victims’ family sued Apple, the manufacturer of the phone, claiming that Apple was liable under the theories of negligence and products liability. The plaintiffs claimed that, although Apple was aware of the dangers of texting while driving and had obtained a patent for a lock-out mechanism for texting while driving, the company did not put the lock-out mechanism in any version of the at-fault driver’s phone. The plaintiffs claimed that Apple was liable because the receiving of text messages triggers “an unconscious and automatic, neurobiological compulsion to engage in texting behavior.” The plaintiffs also claimed that Apple failed to warn customers about the dangers of texting while driving. Apple filed a motion to dismiss, and a federal court granted the motion. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Published on: August 23, 2018

Texas Supreme Court Allows Case to Be Filed in Texas for Death in Mississippi Tractor Accident

By Carabin Shaw

Filing a claim in one state rather than another may have a number of benefits for a Texas plaintiff, including convenience and more favorable laws. In a recent Texas Supreme Court decision, the court explained why a case arising from an accidental death in Mississippi could be filed in Texas.In that case, a man was killed while he was repairing his tractor at his house in Mississippi. The tractor was sold in Mississippi, and the accident occurred in Mississippi, but the man’s son lived in Texas and filed a negligence and product liability claim against the tractor company in Texas. The company moved to dismiss the claim based on forum non conveniens. The company argued that Mississippi was a more convenient and appropriate forum to have the claim heard. The man’s estate was there, and there were other connections to the accident there, since the man lived in Mississippi, bought the tractor in Mississippi, and died in Mississippi.

Forum Non Conveniens

Forum non conveniens allows a court to decline jurisdiction if another more suitable forum exists that is more just and convenient. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.051, a court can decline to exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of forum non conveniens if it is “in the interest of justice and for the convenience of the parties.”

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Published on: August 23, 2018

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms $3.4 Million Verdict in Recent Product Liability Case

By Carabin Shaw

Earlier this month, the federal circuit court overseeing the federal district courts in Texas issued an opinion in a personal injury case discussing several pertinent issues for Texas product liability plaintiffs. The case required the court to determine if a jury’s $3.4 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff was supported by sufficient evidence. Ultimately, the court concluded that the plaintiff’s evidence did support the jury’s verdict, and thus the verdict was affirmed on appeal.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiff, through his wife, filed a product liability lawsuit against his employer as well as the manufacturer of a crane that the plaintiff was operating at the time of his accident. According to the court’s opinion, the plaintiff suffered a serious injury when the counterweights attached to a crane he was operating slid into the operator’s cab, knocking the plaintiff out of the cab and sending him head-first onto the concrete eight feet below.

The plaintiff claimed that the crane manufacturer was liable under a “failure to warn” theory. Essentially, the plaintiff’s argument was that the manufacturer’s included warnings failed to fully inform users of the risks involved with the crane tipping over. Additionally, the plaintiff argued that alternative warnings would have better informed him and may have prevented the accident.

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