The Cooper Firm

Governor Sunny Purdue spoke recently about his concerns in signing S.B 360 banning texting while driving.  The governor has until June 8th to sign all bills into law.

more »

Yesterday, James Sikes was driving his 2008 Prius along Interstate 8 in El Cajon, California when the vehicle accelerated and wouldn't stop. “I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny . . . it jumped and it just stuck there," Sikes, 61, said during a news conference. "As it was going, I was trying the brakes . . . it wasn't stopping." Mr. Sikes said he was practically standing on the brakes but the Prius kept going.

more »

Last week, Ed Towns, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform went to town on Toyota, asking five very pointed questions about the automaker’s “Books of Knowledge,” compendiums purportedly containing, among other things, damning information about the automakers acknowledgement of design issues and countermeasures, by component and vehicle. References to these so-called Books of Knowledge appeared in documents produced under a committee subpoena from former Toyota counsel, Dimitrios Biller.

more »

Toyota is only the latest example of lethal defects gone unaddressed by
regulators.
By MARK ROBINSON AND KEVIN CALCAGNIE

The alleged need for "tort reform" has become a refrain in American
political life. Yet for all the demonizing of trial lawyers, the
reality is that product-liability litigation has become an ever more
important means of keeping consumers safe.

Case in point: the current Toyota Motor Corp. recalls, with their
attendant revelations of corporate obfuscation. This is only the most
recent situation in which lethal defects have gone uncorrected for
years at least in part because of insufficient government oversight.
In model after model, as we've now learned, car owner complaints were
either minimized or ignored altogether by Toyota and by the regulatory
agencies that were supposed to police the company. In one review of
federal records, the Los Angeles Times found 2,600 complaints of sudden
acceleration from 2000 to 2010 by Toyota and Lexus owners. And
according to CBS, recently released internal company documents indicate
that as far back as 2005 Toyota was tracing its sudden acceleration
problem to its software—not to floor mats.

more »

To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat.

Technology giants like Intel and Google are turning their attention from the desktop to the dashboard, hoping to bring the power of the PC to the car. They see vast opportunity for profit in working with automakers to create the next generation of irresistible devices.

more »

How many hoops should you have to jump through to get justice? It's a fair question that many people struggle with. Yesterday, the CEO of a Georgia medical services company suggested - in an opinion piece submitted to a GA newspaper - that to be sure that Georgians who have been harmed by negligent medical care are worthy of justice we should subject them to one more hoop. Not coincidentally, it's a hoop that benefits only medical professionals and insurance companies – the only two interest groups that profit when injured patients are prevented from securing justice.

more »

Flu season has come early and I'm writing far too many prescriptions for Tamiflu. I'm trying my best to adhere to the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control for who should get the drug (kids under 5 years of age, or kids who have a chronic illness like asthma or diabetes). But in more than a few instances, I've ignored the guidelines and given Tamiflu to perfectly healthy kids with no risk factors for influenza-related complications.

more »

Let's say you go to the doctor or surgeon for what is supposed to be a routine procedure, like a colonoscopy or facelift. But thanks to the doctor's or hospital's negligence or ineptitude, the outcome is anything but routine. For a Marietta woman whose case was heard last week by the Georgia Supreme Court, the outcome was horribly disfiguring facial scars - scars so severe her lawyers describe the photographs of them as too gruesome for public distribution.

more »

In a letter sent today to Members of Congress, Chrysler Group LLC announced that the company will accept product liability claims on vehicles manufactured by Chrysler LLC (now OldCarco LLC) before June 10, 2009, and involved in accidents on or after that date. On June 10, 2009, Chrysler Group purchased substantially all of the assets of Old Carco.

more »

As nearly 30 million Americans travel U.S. roads during the Labor Day holiday, a new analysis of government data reveals that more than 28,000 motor carrier companies, representing more than 200,000 trucks, are currently operating in violation of federal safety laws.

more »