On June 9th at a Slim Jim plant in North Carolina, tragedy ensued. The building collapsed - injuring nearly 40 workers who were inside, and killing three employees.

According to an InjuryBoard.com report, the autopsies on the three deceased workers came back showing that the bodies had been crushed to death.

The three deaths and the other 40 personal injuries sustained as a result of the building collapse all qualify as work-related injuries and will likely be filed as worker’s compensation lawsuits.

Federal investigations of the accident have shown that natural gas may have been responsible for the collapse of the building. The gas allegedly leaked into the building when water-heater installers were working on the building. The gas should have been vented outside, but instead caused an explosion inside the factory.

No litigation has been decided on yet, but injury lawyers may work on the case.

A recent L.A. Times article touts the benefits of manning your own summer fun risk management team - don’t let technology do it for you.

Apparently there are several gadgets and gizmos that can help you stay safe in the summer and potentially help you avoid what the L.A. Times calls “the common banes of summer.” The newspaper also advises not to depend too strongly on these devices.

Common summer ailments:

• Bug bites
• Sunburns
• Heat stroke
• Sports-related injuries

Some gadgets that claim to help:

• Off! insect repellent clip-on
• Oregon Scientific Portable UV Monitor

The Off! clip-on sprayer is meant to surround the user with bug protection - when tested, the user said it wasn’t so great. The UV monitor told one user that she could safely stay in the sun for almost 40 hours - she didn’t try it, probably with good reason.

According to the L.A. Times article, several exercise equipment products have recently been recalled because of potential defects and injury.

It seems like it might be best to stick to the family-friendly non-aerosol bug spray and the old-fashioned sun screen lotion. Get your exercise outdoors to avoid any exercise equipment risks, and you should be good to go!

According to U.S. News and World Report, when the federal speed limit of 55 miles per hour was taken away, rates of car accidents increased - noticeably.

During a 10-year study period that lasted from 1995 to 2005, researchers recorded a total of 12,545 deaths and 36,582 injuries, which they correlate to the allowed higher speed limits.

Because of the exponential numbers, some researchers are calling for reduced speed limits - back to the old maximum of 55 miles per hour - and cameras on expressways to help reduce speeding.

Other experts in the field say that with the new technology in car safety, like seat belts and airbags, a federal limit of 55 might be too slow. Some believe that 65 miles per hour would be a safe speed, and that the excessive accidents, deaths and injuries don’t occur until speeds above 70 miles per hour are reached.

In Winter Park, Fla., a family has enlisted the help of a personal injury lawyer lawyer to file charges against a dentist for allegedly dropping dental tools down the throat of their 90-year-old family member - twice.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, Dr. Wesley Meyers dropped an implant screwdriver down Charles Geal Jr.’s throat in 2006 and a mini-wrench in 2007. After several invasive surgeries to remove the tools, Geal never fully recovered. He died in 2007, but there is no known direct correlation with the dental mishaps.

Meyers was fined by the state for his mistakes, and was found negligent - but now the family is seeking more compensation. To drop anything down a patient’s throat beyond the point of recovering it is awful - but to do it twice is even worse.

According to state laws in four states and the District of Columbia, if you play any role in your own personal injury, you cannot collect compensation from a personal injury lawsuit against other parties involved.

One of these states is North Carolina, and for the first time after repeated attempts, a bill to change this law has passed the State House of Representatives and is in the State Senate.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, N.C. resident Lisa Vogel will never receive compensation for her son’s death - because he knowingly got in a car with his friend’s roommate, who was convicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and DWI.

The driver was able to defend himself because he was able to prove that Vogel’s son was negligent in getting in the car in the first place. Even an injury lawyer can’t help that case.

Fortunately for victims of personal injury and injury lawyers, a change is in process. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the bill in the Senate would also make a major change to the current state law by taking away a rule that says that if a plaintiff wins a lawsuit against several defendants, each defendant can be held responsible both for paying their share of the damages and the shares of the other defendants.

Prison inmates have their rights, too. In the Dallas County jail, two different inmates and their families filed injury lawsuits against the county, claiming they were neglected and denied much-needed medical treatment.

According to a report from the Dallas Morning News, the county paid out nearly $500,000 in damages for the two cases. The first suit was filed as a wrongful death in 2005, when a schizophrenic inmate died of pneumonia and the prison guards did not take her to the infirmary for medical treatment after she was found in her cell lying in her own waste. Her family will be awarded $250,000 in compensation.

The second lawsuit involved an inmate who was punched in the eye by another inmate, and clearly needed medical attention after losing his vision because of the blow. Guards refused to send him to doctors, and he never received the surgery he needed to properly fix his severely bruised eye. He will receive $190,000 for compensation.

An injury lawyer helped with the injury settlements in both of these cases.

The Dallas Morning News article also cited other cases of neglect of inmates needing medical treatment in the Dallas County jail in the past decade.

Moral of this story? If you ever find yourself imprisoned in Dallas, don’t get hurt, or you may never receive treatment.

Every year without fail, there are some crazy stories about firework injuries as a result of July 4th fun. According to the American Burn Association, men are three times more likely than women to sustain firework injuries - no real surprise there.

If you get hit with a firework at a professional display, you may want to hire an injury lawyer to talk about possible options for compensation.

Here are some crazy firework injuries that have happened over the years:

• Sparklers Gone Wrong
• Firework Makes Hole in Boy’s Body
• Don’t Be Careless, or You Might End Up Like This Test Dummy
• Homemade Fireworks Not the Best Idea

According to a report from the Miami Herald, colonoscopies performed in Chattanooga, Tenn. may have resulted in the patients being exposed to HIV.

The patients are currently awaiting a response from the VA to see if they will be receiving compensation for their damages in this medical malpractice situation.

Unfortunately, the responsible parties are not offering to pay out the damages they caused in this lawsuit, though this is a clear example of medical malpractice in action. The lawsuit has resulted in congressional hearings and new patient safety standards from the VA, but the organization claims there is no way to trace the evidence back to the VA.

The victims exposed to HIV are represented by  a personal injury attorney in the case.

Health experts are now calling for lower doses of over-the-counter acetaminophen in drugs like Tylenol and Excedrin.

At a two-day conference hosted by the Food and Drug Administration, approximately 40 health experts came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to decrease the recommended dose of acetaminophen - currently at 1000mg - to 650mg.

According to an Associated Press report, acetaminophen is one of the most widely used drugs in America because many people find it easier on the body than ibuprofen and aspirin - but now the popular painkiller is accused of causing liver injury.

In addition to decreasing the over-the-counter dose of the drug, prescription drugs like Vicodin and Percocet may be taken off the market for good because of the severe damage they can do to our bodies.

So what does this mean for the future of pain relief? One theory is to just take more than recommended on the bottle - which is clearly not a good idea, and don’t count on any personal injury lawsuits if that’s a decision you make.

As for prescription drugs, there are other painkilling options out there that might be a bit safer to ingest.

It seems like New York City Transit and the Metropolitan Transit Authority have seen quite a bit of news coverage in the past few months - and almost all of it has been linked to injuries and lawsuits.

According to a New York Daily News report, NYC Transit officials say legal quirks in the law make the organization an easy target for lawsuits. In the past 20 years, the MTA has paid out more than $1 billion in personal injury lawsuits.

The organization has tried to get the state to pass legislation protecting its rights when it comes to personal injury suits - but to no avail. The MTA pays for lawsuits involving very drunk passengers who fall on the tracks or voluntarily walk on the tracks because of their own impaired judgement. This is not something that a transit organization should be paying for.

As a result of the money put toward lawsuits, the MTA has less funding to do good things for transit, like update train tracks and increase service lines and times.

Unfortunately the New York legislature in Albany has not yet passed any laws that could protect the MTA against frivolous lawsuits for which it should not be held responsible, according to the New York Daily News.

If such legislation were to be passed, NYC Transit would save millions of dollars each year because of fewer personal injury lawsuits, and there would be greater strides taken to improve public transit in NYC.

Michael Jackson’s recent passing has touched the world in a way I don’t think anyone expected. Through the years, Jackson has been the center of numerous lawsuits - in all areas of law. As one CNN reporter said, “Michael Jackson was a one-man cottage industry for the legal profession.”

Among the lawsuits involving Jackson were some out-of-court settlements as well. Back in 1992 when Jackson started a friendship with the then-13 Jordan Chandler, Chandler’s family did not approve.

The relationship continued, and in the summer of 1993 Chandler’s father, on behalf of his son, accused Jackson of sexual abuse. The story was all over tabloids and other media, and had an immense effect on the pop-singer’s career.

After the accusations and descriptions of Jackson’s actions and a physical description of his genitals from Jordan Chandler, the allegations were settled outside the courtroom. In January of 1994, Jackson ended up paying the Chandler family $22 million for the civil suit.

This incident marked the first accusation against Michael Jackson for sexual abuse. In the years following, other accusations were made blaming Jackson for other personal injury issues, and there were criminal trials involved.

This pop icon had a tumultuous relationship with the media, and with the public. His popularity ebbed and flowed like the tide, and though Jackson is sadly no longer here to perform his planned come-back tour, his ‘thrilling’ music and contributions to pop culture will not soon be forgotten.

A Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) train conductor was accused of using his cell phone and texting while operating a passenger train, according to JusticeNewsFlash.com.

The operator, Damien Whatley, was hired by MARTA in 2000 and became a train operator within the past two years. A transit customer reported Whatley to MARTA officials, claiming he was certain the train operator was not only holding his phone while driving the train, but also using it.

The MARTA rider used his own cell phone to take photos of Whatley texting and gave them to transit officials.

With such limited evidence against the employee, the maximum punishment MARTA could impose on Whatley was a three-day unpaid suspension. More evidence may become available in the accusation.

JusticeNewsFlash.com also reported that Atlanta is not the only city to experience problems with transit employees using their cell phones on the job and causing public transportation accidents. Within the last 12 months, vehicles in both Boston and California have crashed because the transit operator was text messaging on a cell phone.

According to the New York Times, Boston’s Transit Authority banned transit operators from carrying cell phones during their shifts after the texting trolley crash resulted in nearly 50 injured transit customers.

The ban also follows the fatal California commuter train crash that killed 35 people and left more than 100 passengers injured.

No national cell phone ban for public transportation workers has been suggested or implemented, though such laws for government employees as well as private citizens are being put in place in cities nationwide. Personal injury lawyers can help if you are a victim of a public transit accident.

America’s Watchdog - a national organization that serves as an advocate for consumer rights - has branched out into a new genre for its services.

The Nursing Home Complaint Center is a new organization under the America’s Watchdog parent company designed to help people who have suffered, or have relatives who have suffered, from elder abuse or nursing home neglect.

The goal of the organization is to pair with personal injury lawyers across the country to help get justice for elderly abuse victims and their families.

With this system, victims, families, nursing home employees and the American taxpayer will all be protected. Some things the organization plans to focus on include:

• Medicare over-billing
• Improperly compensated employees
• Neglectful or inadequate/unprofessional care

Patients or family members who believe they or their loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse should not hesitate to talk to a personal injury attorney to help find out what options are available.

Nursing home abuse and improper care are not new problems in the world of personal injury - and it can be difficult to prove the offenses and take action against elder care organizations. It’s great that America’s Watchdog has recognized the problem and is taking measures to help everyone potentially involved.

President Barack Obama returned to his home city this week - Chicago, Ill. - to address the American Medical Association on the topic of health care reform.

Obama wants to let doctors do what they are trained to do and be doctors - not bureaucratic businessmen that are constantly thinking about money making and worried about lawsuits.

According to a CNN report, Obama said the current health care model focuses more on the quantity of heath care patients received rather than the quality of care. Obama said to his audience of physicians that this model “pushes you, the doctor, to see more and more patients even if you can’t spend much time with each; and gives you every incentive to order that extra MRI or EKG, even if it’s not truly necessary.  It is a model that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession — a calling — to a business.”

According to Obama’s speech, the extra tests and scans called for by doctors are often unnecessary precautions, used by doctors to lessen the risk of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

If the system is reformed in the manner that Obama is proposing, there would be protection for doctors, allowing them to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

Obama did say he does not want to put a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits, but he wants to make sure that patient safety comes first and allow doctors to be the “healers” they are meant to be.

So what does that mean for the health care system of America? Obama is still making his case for universal care - a topic on which doctors are still torn.

The President was very well received by the audience of doctors at the AMA in Chicago, but I think some of the country’s health care professionals are still wary of the changes that might be coming their way.

According to the New York Daily News, a transit worker who was helping fix an elevated train platform in Brooklyn three years ago fell 30 feet through some unsupported wooden beams and ended up in a two-month coma.

George Nunez was recently awarded $13 million from a personal injury lawsuit he filed against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, who failed to alert Nunez that the beams he was standing on were not safely supported.

Lawyers from the MTA will try to refute the lawsuit, according to the Daily News, because they claim the accident is Nunez’s fault - if he had been properly secured by his safety harness, he never would have fallen in the first place.

Nunez rightfully filed a personal injury lawsuit against the MTA, and was compensated for his pain, suffering and time.

The question remains, who is correct? Is the MTA at fault because they failed to tell Nunez about the known-to-be-unsupported beams, or is Nunez at fault because his safety harness wasn’t properly fastened?

For now the judge has ruled on the side of Nunez, but if the MTA strikes back, that could change.