A recent trip to a St. Louis haunted house turned deadly for an Illinois teenager, prompting her grieving family to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the developers of the popular attraction.

According to reports, the deceased girl, Brittney Holmes, who was only 15 years old at the time of the accident, visited The Darkness, a haunted house in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis, in 2009.

According to claims made in the personal injury lawsuit, Holmes’ asthma was triggered by the artificial fog and strong scents pumped into the house. As a result of an asthma attack allegedly caused by these features of the haunted house, Holmes went into a vegetative state and died in November of 2010, more than a year after the incident.

This December, Brittney’s father, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, filed a wrongful death claim in the St. Louis Circuit Court against Halloween Productions Inc., which owned and operated the ill-fated haunted house.

Sources indicate that the president of Halloween Productions Inc. is also the head of the Haunted House Association, a trade organization for other Halloween entrepreneurs. The website of this organization describes haunted houses as “extremely safe due to tough safety and fire codes they all must live by.”

Documents related to the lawsuit reveal a few interesting facts about that evening’s events. First, the haunted house apparently posted several signs warning potential customers with respiratory problems to avoid the attraction. There is no information, however, about the size or visibility of these warnings.

In addition, Holmes had suffered asthma from the age of 4, and was allergic to peanuts, mildew, grass, dust, and tree nuts. According to the complaint, Holmes began experiencing breathing problems in a car immediately after visiting the haunted house.

Holmes’ use of an inhaler while in a friend’s car did not help her condition, and reports show that her brain had been deprived of oxygen for at least seven minutes before she reached the hospital.

The wrongful death lawsuit further alleges that Halloween Productions, Inc. failed to provide a safe experience for its customers and failed to adequately monitor the presence of dangerous chemicals in the house’s air. The complaint also alleges that Holmes’ medical treatment cost the family more than one million dollars.

Wrongful death lawsuits offer families an opportunity to seek justice after they have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligent or intentional actions. In addition, family members may be able to seek compensation for their medical bills and, in particularly egregious cases, punitive damages.

If you have lost a loved one due to the negligence, or intentional actions, of another person or corporate entity, call a local injury lawyer today to learn more about your legal rights and options.

The long-suffering Sacramento Kings, who have occupied the basement of the NBA standings for the last few years, added another dubious chapter to their team’s history when a faulty exercise ball injured a key player.

Recently, the team filed a $4 million product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer of the exercise ball that allegedly injured one of the Kings’ players in a bizarre accident last fall.

The injured player, Francisco Garcia, was bench pressing two large dumbbells while balancing on the exercise ball when the commonly used piece of equipment allegedly burst, causing Garcia to fall and break his wrist.

Due to his personal injury, Garcia missed four months of the regular season. According to sources, he had just signed a five-year contract extension for $29.6 million. The lawsuit seeks $4 million because this figure represents the amount of compensation paid to Garcia by the Kings during his time on the injured reserve.

Sources indicate that the Kings are suing both the manufacturer and the distributor of the Gymnic “Burst Resistant Plus” Stability Ball.

The complaint alleges that the distributor of the ball had marketed the particular exercise performed by Garcia as a suitable use for the equipment. Further, the personal injury lawsuit claims that the defendants promised the ball could hold up to 600 pounds and was “burst resistant.”

After the incident, the Kings co-owner, Joe Maloof, emailed all 29 other NBA teams and recommended they stop using the Gymnic exercise ball. According to Maloof, many other NBA teams subsequently removed the exercise balls from their training rooms.

In response to the lawsuit, the manufacturer now includes phrasing on the packaging of its exercise balls that warns customers to avoid using the product in conjunction with weight lifting. The Kings have dismissed this warning as inconsequential to the outcome of their case.

This Kings’ exercise ball saga was not the only defective product lawsuit due to faulty workout equipment in the news this week. In Buffalo, New York, a jury awarded $66 million to a woman after she was injured when an exercise machine fell on her in 2004.

The defendant in the case, Cybex International, had manufactured the faulty machine. According to sources, the woman, who had previously worked as a physical therapy assistant, was left paralyzed after the incident.

While this woman’s injury is more extreme than the Garcia’s broken wrist, dangerous accidents with exercise equipment occur all too often. The proliferation of more and more workout equipment use by inexperienced customers at increasingly crowded gyms has heightened the risk of exercise accidents.

If you have been injured by a malfunctioning piece of exercise equipment, or the negligent actions of someone else, call a local injury lawyer today to learn more about your legal rights.

A defect in the packaging of two popular antacids has left Johnson & Johnson scrambling to recall millions of defective drugs. Recently, the embattled company recalled 12 million bottles of Mylanta, and nearly 100,000 bottles of AlternaGel, a liquid antacid.

The recalls are taking place at the wholesale and retail levels, as both warehouses and stores must take the offending products off their shelves. However, customers will still be able to use the products.

The reason for consumers’ ability to continue using the products centers on the seemingly innocent nature of the recall. The company launched the massive recall because it had failed to properly warn consumers of the trace amounts of alcohol in the products. Sources indicate that this warning failed to appear on the bottles’ labels.

The trace amount of alcohol, which is present in a flavoring agent used in Mylanta, causes the medicine to contain less than one percent alcohol by volume. While this is a small amount of alcohol, consumer safety advocates were concerned with the potential for personal injury to small children and non-drinkers.

The recalled products were made in a factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for Johnson & Johnson, another of the company’s Pennsylvania plants was recently shut down to remedy hygiene issues that forced other recalls of popular products.

In addition, just a week before the Mylanta recall, the company was forced to recall 9 million bottles of Tylenol because of a similar issue involving the failure to warn consumers of the presence of alcohol in the medication.

The Tylenol and Mylanta recalls come in the wake of a terrible stretch of bad luck for Johnson & Johnson’s reputation, as more than 200 million bottles of products have been recalled this year, including their popular brands Motrin, Benadryl, and Rolaids.

As more consumers lose faith in the company’s products and opt for cheaper generic brands, Johnson & Johnson faces several hurdles in regaining consumer confidence.

Beyond the company’s financial difficulties is the danger inherent in selling faulty products to consumers. In order to protect Americans from the harsh effects of defective drugs, personal injury law offers a legal recourse for injured consumers.

Defective product lawsuits may arise from a number of different causes, including faulty labeling of medicine, defective manufacturing of the drug itself, negative reactions to a drug, and injuries from unknown side effects.

Moreover, defective medical devices may also cause serious personal injuries leading to successful product liability lawsuits.

If you have suffered an injury as a result of a defective drug or medical devise, call a local injury lawyer today. You may have a valid product liability claim, and your attorney may help you determine whether you should seek damages.

A terrible mistake recently made by a veteran surgeon has led to a push for major reforms in the practices of American surgeons. While medical malpractice lawsuits provide some relief for victims of bad medicine, precautionary measures before surgery might help save thousands of people from personal injury.

The botched medical procedure occurred when Dr. David Ring of Massachusetts General Hospital performed a mistaken surgery to treat carpal tunnel syndrome on a the left hand of a 65-year old woman.

Unfortunately for the patient, she suffered from trigger finger, not carpal tunnel, and the surgeon failed to perform the correct procedure which would have straightened the affected ring finger on her left hand.

Dr. Ring noticed his error minutes after he performed the unnecessary surgery, and promptly apologized to the patient. He also offered to perform the correct surgery shortly thereafter. The woman, displaying a remarkable amount of mercy, allowed him to proceed. To the relief of both parties, the second surgery was a success.

Sources that detailed the story say that several last minute glitches led to the unnecessary surgery. First, the scheduled operating room was switched at the last minute. In addition, that day saw an abnormally busy surgery schedule which led to failures in standard safety protocols before the surgery began.

Dr. Ring, who courageously admitted to his mistakes in the New England Journal of Medicine, says that he now views pre-surgery safety protocols as an absolutely necessary step for surgeons. According to reports, many doctors find these protocols to be unnecessary burdens.

Both fellow doctors and patient safety advocates have responded positively to Dr. Ring’s call for a heightened emphasis on pre-surgery safety checklists. Not only will enhanced safety protocols decrease doctors’ liability in medical malpractice lawsuits, they will also likely improve the overall surgical outcomes for many patients.

Further, Dr. Ring has stated that the feedback to his public admission of error has been “incredibly positive” and meant a great deal to him, “considering how devastating this was for me and my patient.”

Dr. Ring’s lesson rings particularly true in today’s medical world, where shoddy treatment routinely leads to personal injury lawsuits. According to a medical injury report by the Department of Health and Human Services, roughly 14 percent of Medicare patients are harmed by mistakes made during treatment.

Common types of medical malpractice revealed by the study include excessive bleeding after surgeries, complications from the prescription of incorrect medicines, and urinary tract infections due to the misuse of catheters.

Most surprisingly, these researchers estimated that negligent medical treatment contributes to roughly 180,000 patient deaths each year. In order to avoid the harsh effects of mistreatment, some experts recommend bringing someone with you to the hospital to help you voice your concerns, and knowing all your medications.

If you or someone you love has been victimized by medical malpractice, contact a local injury lawyer today to learn more about your legal rights.

A recent personal injury lawsuit filed in Florida raises fascinating questions about restaurants’ obligations towards the customers. Specifically, when must a restaurant tell its customers how to safely eat a particular dish, even when that dish is relatively common?

According to sources that detailed the injury claim, Arturo Carvajal recently filed an injury claim against Hillstone Restaurant Group Inc. in Miami-Dade County. In the lawsuit, Carvajal claims the restaurant failed to instruct him on how to properly eat an artichoke, which led to serious intestinal problems.

In his complaint, Carvajal says the waiter offered him grilled artichokes, which were a house special and not on the regular menu. After receiving the dish, Carvajal promptly devoured the entire vegetable, including the indigestible outer artichoke leaves.

Due to his consumption of the entire plant, reports indicate that Carvajal later experienced severe pain and abdominal discomfort. In addition, the remarkably detailed complaint says that an exploratory stomach procedure discovered artichoke leaves stuck in his bowel.

Carvajal claims that his injury was a direct result of the restaurant’s failure to train its employees to inform customers ordering the special dish that the outer artichoke leaves were, in fact, indigestible.

The artichoke lawsuit surrounding an allegedly defective product has triggered a heated debate about the merits of warning customers about the dangers of particular foods.

In response to the would-be artichoke lover’s complaint, the restaurant chain’s general counsel says it is a “silly” notion to expect restaurants to post warnings about eating an entire artichoke. He further compares the situation to requiring restaurants to warn customers not to eat the bones in barbecue ribs.

His point is well taken, though the relative obscurity of artichoke dishes suggests that a bit of warning may help many naïve customers safely consume their artichokes. After all, restaurants routinely post warnings about the relative spiciness of various dishes. Such simple measures cost very little to implement and provide a wealth of important information for customers.

Of course, the lawsuit has been ripe for criticism, as critics disavow Carvajal’s seemingly frivolous claim. Carvajal’s attorney, however, makes a perfectly valid point when he says that Carvajal, who grew up in Cuba, had never seen nor heard of an artichoke before.

In response, the defendant’s attorneys cite Carvajal’s employment as a doctor to show that he was sophisticated enough to understand the consequences of eating the entire artichoke.

While this lawsuit may seem bizarre, restaurant customers are put in peril every day by the negligent actions of wayward employees. Moreover, food product safety issues are increasingly important in a globalized marketplace.

If you have recently suffered an injury as a result of a defective product, whether it was a food or medication, contact a local personal injury lawyer today.