oklahoma personal injury attorneys
Thousands Injured in Fireworks Accidents Around Fourth of July
Consumer safety experts are warning that playing with sparklers and other fireworks during the July 4 holiday can result in serious burn injuries. According to a news report in The Associated Press, fireworks sent more than 5,000 people to the emergency room in the 30 days around the Fourth of July in 2012. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that about 60 percent of the estimated 8,700 people treated for injuries in 2012 were hurt between June 22 and July 22.
Here are some of the highlights of the most recent CPSC fireworks injury study:
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Family Of Oklahoma Burn Victim Sues Propane Tank Manufacturers
After an explosion in June at Bill Dog’s Saloon in Caney, Oklahoma, the family of a man who was critically burned in the accident is suing the manufacturers of an allegedly faulty propane tank.
As reported by NewsOK, a 32-year-old man was inside the structure when it exploded, just before 7:30 a.m. on June 5. The man lit a cigarette, according to officials, which triggered the blast.
The man’s attorney said the victim retained burns on more than 78 percent of his body and was left without a nose or ears. Surgeons were forced to amputate part of his foot as well as a finger. The attorney also said his client has been in a medically induced coma for the past month and is fighting burn infections.
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Stossel Makes a Jab at Personal Injury Lawyers
In a recent segment on the Fox Business Channel, John Stossel, co-anchor of “20/20” on ABC News, stated, “For every person lawyers help, they hurt thousands more.” He is referring here to torts. A tort is a civil suit brought against a defendant for wrongdoing (such as damage, injury, or failure to act) that is done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances where the perpetrator is held to strict liability standards. Commonly, tort lawyers are known as personal injury attorneys. In Mr. Stossel’s opinion, lawyers who practice tort litigation are destroying America with “frivolous lawsuits.” He claims that such lawsuits cost the American people billions of dollars each year.
While there may be some “bad apples” that give legitimate personal injury lawyers a bad reputation, the majority of these attorneys are proving important services to clients in need, as well as the general public. For example, without lawsuits, big businesses would be free to harm and deceive the public without fear of consequences. These lawsuits have protected consumers and saved lives. Government regulation is often not enough to protect the public, but those rules combined with the financial and reputation costs of litigation keep companies responsible for making quality products with high safety standards. When individuals bring a tort suit against a doctor or a business, they are simply standing up for their legal rights when they have been treated unacceptably. The frivolous lawsuits that Mr. Stossel talks about are a rare occurrence when compared with the number of legitimate suits that often are of public benefit.
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Statement by Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Brown Criticizes Special Interests-Centered Public Policy
On April 18, Mike Brown of the Oklahoma House of Representatives issued a statement titled “Dismantling Democracy” in which he enumerates the various ways Republican public policy initiatives have supported the upper-class, insurance companies, and big business at the expense of average Oklahomans. The last seven years of poor public policy will directly or indirectly decrease the standard of living for middle-class working people.
Recent measures that have been introduced, pushed, and lauded by the Republican administration demonstrate that the wealthy, big business, and insurance companies are favored over the middle-class, working poor, disabled, and elderly. Their solution for Oklahoma’s revenue deficit is to reduce pension benefits while extending retirement ages; their steps to improve the struggling public education system are leading to taxpayer-funded private schools; their answer to economic development is to limit the public’s access to the courts and to place caps on valid damages in civil malpractice cases where the victim suffered permanent and substantial physical abnormalities or disfigurement.