IKEA is known for its stylish, affordable furniture, but that affordability can come at a price. IKEA’s furniture needs to be assembled at home, and can actually be quite dangerous if not assembled properly. The latest example of this is the 2 year old California toddler who was recently crushed underneath IKEA’s Malm dresser while he napped.

This is the 8th such incident resulting from the Malm dresser line. IKEA says the accident was caused as a result of a failure to properly anchor the dresser to the wall. The family of the toddler claims they were not made aware of the danger of the Malm dresser, or the recall. This dresser has become known to be unstable if not properly anchored to the wall and has a great risk of tipping over, posing the greatest threat to young children. IKEA had already paid out $50 million to 3 families in 2014 and 2015.

Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge regarding the recall isn’t unique. IKEA sold as many as 65 million Malm dressers over the past 13 years. Only recently has the furniture company removed them from the website and stopped selling them altogether. The first public reports of child deaths associated with this dresser line occurred in 2014. When the problem became public, IKEA offered to replace the Malm dressers or provide replacement anchors to ensure their safety. As of now, IKEA is offering a full refund on the dresser or store credit depending on how old the unit is. If the customer would like to keep the dresser, IKEA is offering to send a repair team to anchor the dresser properly.

The biggest issue is getting the word out to owners of the Malm dressers. According to non-profit Kids In Danger, out of the 65 million Malm dressers that have been sold, it’s possible that only 3% have actually been repaired with IKEA’s repair kits or refunded altogether. That means there are potentially millions of households with this dresser still in them, posing a potentially life threatening risk to small children. This has led some to believe that IKEA has not done enough to get the word out regarding the Malm recall.

The recent wrongful death law suit filed by Florida Personal Injury Lawyer, Don Fountain and the legal team working at Clark, La Vista, Fountain, Prather, Littky-Rubin, and Keen, and the co-counsel at the Copper Firm, has led to an NBC consumer investigation that focuses on the potential hazards of recreational boating. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a family in Lake Worth, FL. The family lost their 7 year old son in an unfortunate recreational boating accident. The lawsuit alleges that the boat manufacturer, Malibu Boats, used an improper design for their boat and further failed to test the vessel.

How Did The Accident Take Place?

Ryan Batchelder, the 7 year old who died in the boating accident sustained fatal injuries after being washed out of the seat of the Malibu Response boat. The bow of the boat swamped and dipped causing it to take on water and washing Ryan and one of his family members overboard. The driver of the boat tried to reverse the boat to prevent it from sinking, but to no avail. Ryan was entangled on the boat’s propeller and died from blood loss and drowning.

Findings by NBC

Investigations into the case have found that the authorities at Malibu Boats had expressed concerns regarding the design of the boat that caused Ryan’s death. Their concerns address the new design of their boat that put additional seats to the bow and added more weight on the front of the boat. Malibu Boats claims that it tested this new design but they had no records or documentation of such testing.

Apart from highlighting the dangerous practices involved in designing recreational boats, NBC has raised questions regarding the regulations that allow manufacturers to test their own boats instead of a government agency such as the U.S. Coast Guard. Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard’s authority with regards to recreational boats is focused on the safety equipment stored in these boards and enforcing laws on the water.

The legal team representing Ryan’s family intends to use this lawsuit to get justice for the child and his family, and to lobby for changes in the recreational boating sector that will focus on public safety.

Former NBA player Marcus Camby is subject to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday, June 22, 2017. The suit was filed by Marcus Kendall McGhee in the U.S. District Court in Houston. McGhee is the father of Camby’s autistic nephew, 9-year-old Marcus Carter McGhee, who drowned in the manmade pond at Camby’s home in November. According to the suit, the child was son to Camby’s sister.

In the suit, McGhee claims the former NBA Houston Rocket player’s pond was not fenced in — offering no protection to keep the child away from the water — which led to his son’s death while visiting family at Camby’s Pearland home. The report also alleges Camby did not properly supervise the child despite knowing of his nephew’s limitations.

Local news sources report that search crews and law enforcement conducted a search when the child went missing last Thanksgiving afternoon. The search concluded the weekend after Thanksgiving, with searches getting more community support when he was missing more than 24 hours. Locals were asked to check their home security footage and volunteers looked in a six-mile radius around the property. The boy was said to be shy around strangers and non-verbal, leading search parties to play ‘Wheels on the Bus’ — his favorite song.

When the body was found, Camby even expressed his gratitude to those who helped look when speaking with local news outlets:

“My family and I would like to thank the Pearland police department, search and rescue and everyone from the community who assisted in the search for my nephew Marcus. Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare and we are heartbroken.” He then claimed that he and his family would be “front and center” to help before requesting privacy.

Marcus Camby played in the NBA for 17 seasons and was named Defensive Player of the Year in the 2006-07 season, having the most blocked shots per game on average. Starting his career on the Toronto Raptors, he made his longest stays with the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, playing for the Houston Rockets in 2012 and finally retiring from the Knicks in 2013.

It is unbelievable that two years have passed since the Kvalvog Family lost their two teenage sons. Their death was as a result of a crash on a journey to a baseball competition, in Wisconsin, along Interstate 94. During a radio interview on WDAY radio, Kvalvog recalled how he got the news an hour after he dropped the boys at the school parking lot.

Crash Report Analysis
Kvalvog confirmed that he is ready to pay a double price of $100,000 to anyone who might have a clue about his son’s cause of death. However, he narrated what  happened at the incident when the two brothers crashed. Based on an accident report by Minnesota State Patrol, Zach Kvalvog who was aged 18 was behind the wheel with his brother Connor, 14 years aged, in the passenger seat. They were also with other teammates from Park Christian School. A Semi-truck driver is said to have infringed on the young men’s path before they perished on June 23, 2015, near Dalton, Minn. As a result, Zach Kvalvog was forced to swerve out of the lane.

The semi driver never stopped, then the Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck that the two brothers were in, uncontrollably overturned. They rolled into the middle and wound up on the interstate’s westbound lanes. The two had no chance of surviving; they succumbed on the spot whereas the rest of the passengers Mark Schwandt and Jimmy Morton got hospital admission and later recovered.

Life After The Loss
As what almost every father would do, Kvalvog had to hold someone responsible. He moved to court and filed a death case against Park Christian, Josh Lee who was the basketball coach, the truck manufacturer and the insurance company. He affirmed that his stand was not to seek for financial compensation but to know what and how this happened to his boys. He expressed that it was so hard for him and his wife to move on when their sons meant so much to them. Moreover, the memories and imagination of their young one’s lives keep coming back.

In his view, it is necessary for schools to be careful on how the transportation of students is carried out. He also advocated for proper road marks to be put at the crash site, to keep drivers informed of the road bends.

The son of a man who died in the Uvalde bus crash has filed a lawsuit against the pickup driver he believes to have been responsible for the accident. The pickup driver, whom the plaintiff believes is liable for the death of his father, had told a witness that he had been texting using his phone when he hit the New Braunfels church bus. The collision between the two vehicles claimed a total of 13 lives.
The plaintiff, Ross Allen, is the son of one of the victims of the car accident, Howard B. Allen. Ross has filed a wrongful death suit against the pickup driver, Jack D. Young, as well as his father, Joseph B. Young. This is according to a copy of the lawsuit that was filed on Monday.

The collision, which occurred on March 29, killed 13 congregants of the New Braunfels church, all of whom were travelling in the church bus. The congregants had gone for a retreat in Uvalde and were on their way back when the crash happened. Of all the congregants in the church bus, only one survived the gruesome accident.
According to the Department of Public Safety in the state of Texas, no charges and citations have been issued in the crash. However, both the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and National Transport Safety Board are still conducting investigations on the crash.
In the lawsuit, Ross Allen alleges that Jack Young, the driver of the pickup, was intoxicated at the time of the crash. Through the lawsuit, Ross Allen goes further to state that the driver had taken marijuana as well as prescription medicine, drugs that impaired his sense of judgment. Jack Young would then drive the pickup on a public road, causing the crash which occurred on U.S 83.

In his arguments, Ross Allen claims that Young drove and operated the Chevrolet Truck while intoxicated, with his negligence leading to the crash that claimed 13 lives. He also alleges that Young’s father was negligent in allowing his son to use the truck, which he owned. For this reason, Ross has filed a claim seeking $ 1 million in damages and as compensation for lost companionship, lost wages and related expenses as a result of the death of his father.

Last Father’s Day saw the near drowning of a 4-year-old girl who was later pronounced dead while receiving treatment in a hospital. The girl had accompanied her parents to a private club in Downers Grove where the incident occurred. Anna Trent of Downers Grove has now filed a suit in DuPage County court against the club for the wrongful death of their daughter.

A closer scrutiny of this case reveals imminent negligence on the side of the club. Evidence points that before Anna was found floating in the deeper area of the pool, her parents had left her playing in the shallow part in the presence of lifeguards. This clearly reveals that the lifeguards did not monitor the swimming properly, which from a broader perspective indicates a lack of proper training.

Even after the drowning victim was recovered from the swimming pool, the lifeguards could not perform Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the child’s aunt and father had to do it in a bid to save their girl’s life.

The club also lacked proper resuscitation equipment at the pool, which might have contributed to her death. Anna’s demise comes at a time when the drowning death toll for younger children is on the rise.

Based on federal government statistics, submersion injuries remain the second-leading cause of unintentional deaths among children between the age of 1 to 14 years. Further evidence reveals that children between the age of 1 to 4 years are at the greatest risk of accidental drowning and injury-related deaths. For every four children who are rushed to the hospital for drowning-related emergencies, another one child dies from the submersion injuries.

Although the case against the club is still hanging in the balance and we cannot predict what the final ruling will be, there are several things we can dissect from this case. To begin with,swimming pool deaths and injuries are subject to both federal and county laws. If everything goes well, the suing party, Ann’s parents, may be entitled to the following types of damages:

• Loss of enjoyment of life,
• Loss of love and companionship,
• Mental anguish,
• Medical expenses encountered while Ann was hospitalized, and
• Pain and suffering.

Everything will depend on how well the family’s attorney proves the negligence case against the Downers Grove club.

In 2012 a 43 year-old woman named Carmen Alexander came to the Emergency Room at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with a large bruise on her chest, a high white blood cell count—which indicates unchecked infection—difficulty breathing, and nausea. The doctors sent her home later that day.  She died two days later.

Carmen Alexander was a victim of necrotizing fasciitis, a rare but potentially deadly infection caused by bacteria that rapidly destroy tissue as they multiply. By the time she was discharged from the Emergency Room, her lungs were filling up with blood. When she returned to the ER the following day in severe distress, she was admitted directly to the Intensive Care Unit, where a surgical team couldn’t save her, despite having the correct diagnosis.

Ms. Alexander’s family recognized that the Emergency Room physicians made a critical error when they decided to send her home after her initial visit, and her three teenaged children sued the hospital.  “The evidence was right in front of them,” said Vadim Hsu, the children’s guardian. “It should have made the physician jump out of her skin.”

It took almost exactly 5 years after Alexander’s death for the plaintiffs to settle the case.  The total fees and costs were about $200,000, and each child will receive a total of slightly over $132,000.  For them, though, it’s not about the money.  “What the upshot of this lawsuit was, was to put in place measures to idiot-proof policy and procedure,” said Hsu. “There needed to be a system in place so that a doctor who ordered the test in the first place actually reads the test and does something about it.”

Cottage Hospital has changed its Emergency Room policies to require physicians to respond immediately to white blood cell counts as high as Ms. Alexander’s.  Dr. Edmund Wroblewski, the hospital’s vice president of Medical Affairs, wrote a letter to her children stating “Had this change in policy been made prior to your mother’s death, she would not have been discharged from our hospital on February 19, 2012.”

While the circumstances surrounding Ms. Alexander’s death were tragic, patients who appear at the Emergency Room with the same symptoms are now protected against her fate. The lawsuit and the policy changes that resulted, said Hsu, ensure that she “didn’t die in vain.”