A personal injury lawsuit was filed in early January against a Camden, PA.-based chocolate plant after a worker was killed last summer when he fell into a vat used to melt chocolate.

Vincent Smith II, 29, was working at the Lyons and Sons chocolate plant on July 8, according to CBS. Officials said at the time that Smith was standing on a nine-foot-tall platform while loading solid pieces of raw cocoa into a melting vat when he fell into the container.

While the chocolate’s temperature was believed to be about 120 degrees Fahrenheit, the chocolate was not responsible for his death. Smith was struck in the head by an agitator, a large paddle-shaped object used to move the chocolate while it melts, and suffered fatal injuries because of the blow, according to CBS.

Attorney Thomas Kline, who is representing Smith’s relatives, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that several security measures were missing near the vat. He said no guardrails were placed around the vat, the floors nearby where slick with melted chocolate, no equipment was nearby for workers to try to get him out of the vat, and no emergency shut off was installed on the platform, according to the Inquirer.

The suit was announced just after the plant and the company Smith was working for were fined about $39,000 for an array of safety violations. Smith’s employer, Cocoa Services, was also named in the family’s lawsuit, as well as other contractors who designed and constructed the plant.

“This was a sure death,” Kline told the Inquirer. “When he fell in, he stood no chance of survival.”

Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration placed the recent fines on the plant for failure to meet the security measures described by Kline.

Right after Smith’s death, the plant was shut down and fined about $1,150 for operating without a mercantile license. Inspectors also found problems with plumbing and electrical systems in the plant. Officials representing the plant had said before the inspection that those areas were fixed, according to the Inquirer.

“This worker was unknowingly invited into a death trap,” Kline said to the Inquirer. “They ignored any rule of occupational safety or common sense.”

Officials from Lyons and Cocoa services declined to comment to the Pennyslvania newspaper.

“My brother was a very careful guy,” Smith’s brother Carl Smith told ABC shortly after the accident. “Come to find out they say it could have been carelessness on his part? That’s not his character at all.”

More than 30 personal injury lawsuits have been filed in Illinois and Texas after a tainted medication led to allergic reactions and deaths in 2008.

Baxter International Inc. recalled herapin, a blood thinner and anti-coagulant, in 2008 when ingredients in the medication were found to cause adverse reactions. Key components at fault within herapin were traced back to animal products from China included in the product, according to Bloomberg.

A main component of herapin is made from pig intestines, a Baxter spokesperson said in a 2008 statement.

Baxter had supplied about half of the United States’ blood thinner and anti-coagulant when reports of allergic reactions started coming in. Erin Gardiner, a company spokeswoman, told Bloomberg that the company began a voluntary recall when they noticed the increase in adverse reactions.

The US Food and Drug Administration found after the recall that herapin was contaminated with a substance similar to herapin but was actually over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate, according to the Southeast Texas Record.

A China-based company manufactured the active ingredient in herapin from raw materials bought from smaller, family owned workshops. The workshops extracted what was used for herapin from pig intestines, the Southeast Texas Record reported.

“The decision to source from China is based solely on supply — the majority of the world’s supply of crude heparin comes from China, due to the large number of pigs required,” Baxter said in 2008.

Gardiner told Bloomberg recently that Baxter was unable to pinpoint exactly where the contaminated materials came into the manufacturing of herapin, since it was introduced into the process before it ever reached Baxter’s facilities.

The company, based in Deerfield, Illinois, said they “deeply regret any impact the 2008 herapin contamination may have had on patients and family members.”

The U.S. FDA set new standards in manufacturing the blood thinner in 2008 after the recall, but Chinese suppliers do not fall under the same scrutiny of U.S.-based health agencies.

The Illinois-based personal injury lawsuits accuse Baxter and supplier Scientific Protein Laboratories with negligence and are seeking monetary damages for both people who were hurt by the tainted products and for their family members, Bloomberg reported.

A lawsuit filed in Texas also accuses Baxter of failing to disclose test results, failing to act reasonably to recall the drugs and failing to act as a reasonably prudent drug manufacturer, according the Southeast Texas Record.

In 2007, actor Denis Quaid and his wife filed a product liability lawsuit in Chicago against Baxter after their newborn twins were given high amounts of herapin by accident, the Associated Press reported.

Quaid’s suit alleged that higher doses of herapin were packaged the same as lower amounts.

Actor Gary Coleman opted to settle a personal injury lawsuit filed against him and his former wife by disgruntled fan Colt Rushton.

Dustin Lance, injury attorney for Rushton, said the suit was settled within the last 30 days. Court records revealed that the injury lawsuit against the actor, best known for his role in the sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” was dismissed on January 12, the Associated Press reported.

Rushton’s suit against Coleman stemmed from a September 2008 encounter at a bowling alley in Payson, Utah, about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City. Coleman was bowling with his bodyguard and wife Shannon Price, when Rushton took a few photos of Coleman with a cell phone camera, according to court documents.

While in the bowling alley parking lot, Rushton reportedly snapped a few more photos of Coleman’s pickup truck before Price reportedly snatched the phone out of his hand. While Rushton and Price were arguing, Coleman hit Rushton with his truck while backing out of his parking spot, AP reported.

Rushton’s attorney said he sustained during injuries to his knee from the accident that required the input of an orthopedic surgeon, although it was not clear if Rushton did undergo surgery since the incident.

“He’s not on crutches, but there is quite a bit of pain,” Lance told the AP in 2008.

In October 2008, Coleman pleaded not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and reckless driving in Payson-area court. Coleman’s attorney, Randy Kester, originally said a plea deal was not considered, because Coleman was not guilty of doing anything illegal.

But about a month later, Coleman was back in court with a plea of no contest for the charges, according to AP.

“It was kind of a compromise. It’s the kind of case we could probably have taken to a jury trial, but it would’ve taken two days and wasted a lot of state resources and a lot of our resources,” Kester said in 2008. “We constructed it ourselves and just tried to come up with a way to resolve the city’s concerns and at the same time protect Mr. Coleman.”

Lance did not elaborate any further about the terms of the settlement and Kester declined to comment about the recent decision to settle out of court.

The bowling alley confrontation was not the first time Coleman dealt with Utah police. Earlier in 2008, Coleman was cited for disorderly conduct after a heated argument with Price while they were driving in his pickup truck.

Coleman was ordered to pay a fine for the charge.

Three different personal injury lawsuits were filed against Pfizer Inc. last week claiming that suicide attempts and a death stemmed from use of the drug Chantix to help alleviate symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

The crux of each personal injury lawsuit is that staff at Pfizer did not properly inform both doctors and potential users about the potential for psychological disturbance caused by the drug, according to Reuters. All the cases were filled at the New York State Supreme Court based in Manhattan.

The suits claim the company knew that use of Chantix could possibly lead to feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts before distributing. While warnings are packaged with Chantix containers, attorneys representing those who filed against Pfizer said the warnings do not accurately describe potential side effects.

Attorney Marc Grossman wrote in one of the suits that the pharmaceutical company “intentionally, recklessly, and/or negligently concealed, suppressed, omitted, and/or misrepresented the risks, dangers, defects and disadvantages of Chantix,” Reuters reported.

Claims in two of the injury lawsuits read that two people tried to commit suicide after using the drug for help with smoking cessation. Further details about the suicide attempts were not reported.

The third suit is for wrongful death, and was filed after Indiana resident Annette Pine allegedly committed suicide after using the drug. Specific details about Pine’s case also were not reported, according to Reuters.

Pfizer spokespeople released a response after the suits were filed where they praised the drug’s effectiveness, and pointed out that it had been approved in 86 countries as an aid to quit smoking cigarettes.

“At all times, Pfizer has clearly communicated important information about the safe use of Chantix, which is available only with a prescription,” Pfizer spokesperson Sally Beatty said in the statement, also adding that Chantix has helped many smokers to quit.

“We intend to vigorously defend this medicine,” Beatty said in the statement.

All three lawsuits claim that each plaintiff used the drug as it was prescribed.

The suits also state that both the patients and their doctors were “not aware and through diligent efforts were not able to discover the risk of serious injury, and/or depressed mood and/or suicide associated with and/or caused by Chantix.”

According to Chantix.com, the drug blocks receptors in the brain that would ordinarily link with nicotine, but also causes the hormone dopamine to release. Nicotine also cause dopamine release but at a higher amount than what Chantix causes.

The site also lists that as of August 2008 over 6 million people in the United States have been prescribed Chantix for smoking cessation.

Pfizer first released the drug in 2006. Sales have since fallen while reports and concerns about side effects increased, Reuters reported.

Chantix sales fell about 15 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

A Massachusetts school teacher was recently awarded worker’s compensation benefits after she was injured while chaperoning students on a school ski trip.

Karen Sikorski, a math teacher at Peabody High School in Peabody, Mass., injured her shoulder in 2004 during a trip to Mount Ascutney in Vermont with the school’s ski club.

Sikorski was reportedly skiing when she fell. The injury later required surgery as well as physical therapy for her to recover, according to the Boston Globe.

Sikorski’s claim asked to regain sick days spent on her recovery and any medical expenses not covered by the co-payment offered through her health insurance policy, through the city.

The city of Peabody government initially rejected her claim for personal injury compensation because the teachers are not required to participate with the school ski trips and other voluntary events, according to claims.

But in mid December, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of Sikorski. Alan Pierce, who served as Sikorski’s attorney for the injury case, told the Associated Press that while teachers volunteer to chaperone events such as the ski trip, she was still performing her duties as a teacher.

“The students could not ski unless there was a chaperone going down the trail with them,” Pierce said.”She engaged in the duties of a teacher, albeit on the ski slopes. She wasn’t teaching math, but she was maintaining order, re-enforcing rules and watching out for the well-being of adolescents.”

While the case itself did not involve “big money,” Pierce told the Boston Globe that the state Supreme Court’s ruling “needed to establish that when teachers are performing chaperoning duties [they] do not lose the protection.”

Pierce said Sikorski may recover about 10 of the 16 sick days she used for physical therapy and a small payment if her injuries turn out to be permanent, according to the Globe.

The city of Peabody tried to argue that a 1985 Massachusetts law excluded injuries from being covered by worker’s compensation if such an injury happened while an employee was voluntarily participating in an activity.

However, the SJC ruled that participation in the ski trip was a result of Sikorski working for the city in some form, and therefore Sikorski was awarded the compensation.

Judge Judith A. Cowin wrote in an opinion regarding the case that, “the ski club’s trips benefited the city by furthering the school’s educational mission.”

Judge Cowin also pointed out that the city encourages teachers to participate in events such as the ski trip.

While more previously associated with damaged relationships and marriages, a New York City woman found that pole dancing can also cause personal injury.

Sue Ann Wee, a dermatologist living in Manhattan, was reportedly injured during a pole-dancing workout class at a Crunch Gym location. She filed a personal injury lawsuit last week against the company that owns the Crunch Gym chain, according to several media reports.

The New York Daily News reported that Wee was hanging upside down during the class at an upper east side Manhattan location, using her feet to support her on the pole. She then fell on both of her shoulders, causing “serious injuries,” according to the suit.

Wee’s attorney Nicholas Warywoda said the gym instructor convinced her to try the maneuver, even though Wee said it was too difficult for her to perform. The injury reportedly left Wee unable to work for six months, according to the New York Daily News.

“The problem is not with these types of classes,” Warywoda said. “The problem comes when you don’t properly supervise the people in those classes.”

The money amount asked for in the suit has not been specified.

Performing pole dancing as a twist on fitness is a recent trend. Various gyms now offer pole dancing classes and the exotic-dancing themed Flirty Girl Fitness program includes an option to purchase a pole for home use.

But injuries, on the other hand, are not a new companion to pole dancing.

In October 2007, Angela Hobson was awarded a settlement of over $11,000 for worker’s compensation benefits after she pulled her neck in 2001 while swinging around a pole at a Fort Wayne, Indiana nightclub, according to court documents.

The chief judge’s opinion stated that Hobson “began experiencing numbness and a sharp pain running down her right arm. She had no strength in her right arm and was unable to grip a soda can or make a fist.”

Hobson underwent surgery after emergency room doctors found she had herniated a disc in her upper spine, according to court documents.

Actress Teri Hatcher also was recently injured while pole dancing. Hatcher told David Letterman Friday, Jan. 8 on his late-night talk show that she broke a rib while performing an upside down maneuver during a pole dancing scene shot for the show ‘Desperate Housewives.’

Hatcher continued to film for six hours after the injury, she said.

“Sneezing is the worst part,” Hatcher said about breaking he rib.