On Monday a trial starts against Coleman that alleges the corporation made and sold a defective product that severely burned an 11-year-old boy.
In 2005 Trevor Dennis was camping with his family when a Coleman heater malfunctioned and set the camper on fire. The family alleges that their heater was not safe for indoor use, a claim that Coleman disputes. The lawsuit says that Coleman knew that the heater was faulty due to previous warranty claims and complaints, and that Coleman knew of other fires caused by the unit.
“In spite of this knowledge, Coleman still manufactured and sold the propane heater, putting profits ahead of people,”
said plaintiff’s lawyer John Bisnar.
A jury will make the final decision on Monday as to the truth of the allegations.
This brings up another point that I would like to address and that is corporate personhood. According to US law, a corporation has human rights just like you and me. It is a rather odd concept that gives corporations much more power than they deserve to have. It has also led to numerous incidences of corporations putting profits before people and sometimes putting out a product that the corporation knows will kill some people. A prime example is Ford Motor Company and the Pinto.
House calls as cost-saver in health care reform?.
Victoria Advocate has an interesting article about a doctor in Richmond, Va who has returned to the practice of making house calls.
Dr. Peter Boling and his crew of three doctors, five nurses and a social worker care for about 275 patients in the Richmond, Virginia area.
Boling says that house calls help him see some of the oldest and sickest patients and give them the care they need that may help keep them out of the hospital emergency room.
Boling is trying to convince Congress to include a provision in the health-care reform bill that would test whether house calls could lower preventable hospitalizations and ER visits for the high-cost and chronically ill patients on Medicare.
I think this is a great idea and I hope it becomes as common as it was a hundred years ago. Hospitals are dangerous places in some ways, and many people are not able to get to the hospital when they need care. Often people wait until a catastrophic, and often preventable, event occurs before the get rushed to the ER.
Austell woman killed in Virginia wreck.
Virginia Bolton, a 69-year-old woman from Austell, VA was killed in a three-car-accident last Tuesday. Bolton was wearing her seatbelt. Virginia State Police say the accident happened in Henry County which is a rural area near Martinsville, VA.
Bolton was a passenger in a 1994 Ford Taurus driven by Stuart, VA resident Virginia Loggins. Loggins’ auto collided with a Chevy pickup truck around 3pm. Police gave Loggins a ticket for failure to yield. There was also a 2003 Mitsubishi involved in the accident.
If you have been in a car accident in Virginia you need to read my book “Accident Injury Book”. It is the ultimate guide to dealing with insurance adjusters in Virginia. My book is FREE to Virginia residents and available 24/7 at 1-800-368-6495 ext 4120.
Wayne O’Bryan is a Richmond based lawyer who specializes in personal injury car accident cases. For over thirty years Wayne has dealt with insurance company adjusters and knows their sneaky tricks.
Teen Driver Tips from Virginia DMV.
Tomorrow is the end of National Teen Driver Safety Week in America. If you have a teenager, one of the scariest moments in your life is when your teen starts to drive. Car accidents kill many teenagers.
In Virginia there are some laws to help keep teen drivers a little bit safer.
Teen drivers are under curfew and are not supposed to be on the road between midnight and 4am.
Also teenagers are not allowed to use their cell phone when driving unless the driver has an emergency.
There is also a limit to how many passengers under 18 a teen driver can have in the car. Statistics show that teens are much more likely to crash when the number of passengers in the car go up.
I wrote a great book that every parent should have in their library in case an accident happens. It is called Accident Injury Book: Hidden Inside Secrets Big Insurance Companies Don’t Want You to Know About Your Injury Claim and is FREE for Virginia residents. Usually I only offer this book to injured people in America, but for the next week I will offer this special book for any parent with a teen driver in the house.
You can get the book at AccidentInjuryBook.com or call 1-800-372-4099.
Crash kills mother, young daughter.
Another tragic accident kills two out of four family members riding together in their SUV on Tuesday night.
Apparently the unidentified driver of a 2005 Scion TC an a red light and hit the family’s SUV, killing the mother, Tanya Mise, and 3-year-old daughter Lauren Mise after they were ejected from the vehicle.
The Mise family was in the area for a conference at Virginia Beach and was torn apart in moments.
Peter Dreier: Humana: Profits Over People.
An interesting new article about big insurance company Humana whose CEO Michael McAllister is not shy about saying that they love money more than people:
It is important to note if we have to choose between achieving our membership goals and achieving profitability goals. profits will win every time. – 2003
We will not play the market share game and will continue to price our business for bottom line profitability. – 2004
McAllister has made a total of $56.9 million over the last five years and has more than $60 million in Humana stock options.
Last year Humana made $833 in profits. Nothing wrong with profits, except that they make this profit, in part, by denying the claims of their insured and sometimes causing their insured’s death because of these denials.
Former employees of Humana have said they were told that they were expected to keep a 10% denial rate and that the medical reviewer with the highest denial rate would receive a Christmas bonus.
The article also details the many times Human has been cited for violating federal contracting laws and its efforts to stifle health care reform.
The existence of this type of insurance company is a perfect example of why America needs health care reform. It has been said “the love of money is the root of all evil” and Human is another example of a large corporation who loves money and is willing to take in your premium payments but is unwilling to help you when you need it the most.
Insurer ends health program rather than pay out big – Washington Times.
This is unbelievable. Guardian Life Insurance Company (with profits last year of $437 million dollars) has decided to completely eliminate coverage in certain states so they don’t have to pay expensive claims.
The article has the story of Ian Pearl, a muscular dystrophy patient, who could very well die when his coverage is cut off at the end of this year. His coverage costs $1 million per year as he needs daily nursing care.
It seems that the $437 million is not enough profit for Guardian Life insurance Company and they need to make a little more money.
Another example of a large corporation putting profits before people and being willing to kill for money. I hope one day that these corporate executives who make these life-and-death decisions over us can be held accountable in a court of law.
We often get calls from clients at the scene of the accident, and they ask us what they should do at the scene.
Here are a few tips:
1. Make sure you write down the license plate tag number of the vehicle that hit you. Write it down yourself. We can then look immediately for insurance and make sure we know who hit you. That way there will be no confusion when the police come and it will get your claim started quicker.
2. Take pictures with your cell phone or camera of your vehicle and the other vehicle that hit you. Get pictures of the damages to the vehicle, and if someone crossed the center line take pictures to show where the vehicles were when the accident occurred. As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words and it is a powerful way to establish the extent of damages and what actually happened.
3. If you have a video camera, take some video. See if you can get a statement from the driver that hit you. Sometimes people will say things at the scene of the accident and then change their story later. A video is even than a picture and a recorded statement from the person at fault or a witness can be one of the best ways to help your case.
4. Look around for witnesses. Many times we have represented people who have, for instance, been hit by someone who went through a red light, but when the police come, both people say they had a green light. You want to right hen and there at the accident scene ask people “Did you see what happened?” and get their name, address and phone number to make sure that you have a witness on your side. Better yet get a witness statement on video.
Call Virginia Car Accident Lawyer Wayne O’Bryan at 643-4343 for a free consultation if you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault. Let us deal with the hassle while you get bak to a normal life. We offer a FREE Accident Injury Book: Hidden Inside Secrets Big Insurance Companies Don’t Want You to Know About Your Injury Claim for Virginia residents injured through someone else’s negligence.
