By Randy Appleton, Dangerous and Defective Products Attorney in Virginia

A new report shows that product recalls were down 24 percent in 2011, but injuries sustained from recalled products were up 7 percent. To learn more about the report, visit “Number of Recalled Products Down, Injuries Up.”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Jim Lewis, Distracted Driving Accident Injury Attorney in Virginia

Life Before Text, an application written Android smartphones, blocks calls and texts to phones inside moving vehicles. The app costs $3.98 per download and is being marketed directly to parents who can install it on their teenagers’ cell phones.

Designer Troy Orner told television station WQOW that he designed Life Before Text with his own 8-year-old triplets in mind.  “There’s so many distractions and meaningless deaths on the road caused by people texting,” he said.

Life Before Text sends an email alert to a designated recipient if someone disables the app. Better, if the app is deleted, an email goes an insurance agent who may have been giving the teen a discount for having the app installed. The application is available for Android phones, and costs $3.98.

Texting while driving has become an epidemic on American roads, and teenagers are among of the worst offenders. Having grown up with technology all around them, teens forget that they shouldn’t be multitasking behind the wheel. That multitasking, combined with inexperience, puts everyone’s health and lives at risk.

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Emily Mapp Brannon, Defective Medical Device Attorney

An analysis reported in the February 28, 2012 BMJ revealed that metal-on-metal hip implants replacements, like those recalled by DePuy Orthopaedics in 2010,  might be more dangerous than leaking breast implants. The authors of the report argue that their findings demonstrate the need for closely monitoring the safety of medical devices.

Most hip replacements can be expected to last the rest of a patient’s life. But hip implants with two metal components that form the joint have failed at nearly twice the industry average. While this fuels the fire over DePuy’s unsafe hip replacement devices, an internal company email shows DePuy executives knew about the problem a full year before issuing a recall. Shockingly, DePuy continued to sell the defective ASR hip implants overseas even after the FDA rejected them in the United States.

Now, all patients how received DePuy implants are being advised to have the devices removed and replaced. The stress of hip replacement surgery is difficult to deal with once, let alone a second time.

If you or someone you love has suffered because of one of DePuy’s metal hip implants, consider consulting with an experienced defective and dangerous products attorney. My colleagues and I routinely confer with the foremost experts on behalf of our clients, and or Virginia Beach, VA-based law firm has a long history of taking cases to trial with successful results.

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Emily Mapp Brannon, Virginia Brain Injury Attorney

A new study shows teenagers’ brains are more susceptible to sports-related injuries than previously thought. Concussions have been shown to create deficits in working memory for up to a year after the injury. To learn more, visit “Study: Sports Concussions Extra Harmful to Teenagers’ Brains.”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Emily Mapp Brannon, Virginia Product Recalls Attorney

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl was burned and hospitalized while trying to fix her grandmother a cup of coffee. Now, the coffeemaker she used is being recalled. To learn more, visit “Tassimo Single-Cup Coffeemaker Recalled After 10-Year-Old Burned, Hospitalized.”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Jim Lewis, Dangerous Drugs Attorney in Virginia

Pfizer has announced that millions of birth control pills sold under the brand name Lo/Ovral-28 or as generic equivalent norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol products are being recalled because the packages can contain the wrong number or misordered active and inactive hormonal tablets. To learn more about the recall: “Packaging Mistake Sparks Pfizer Birth Control Pill Recall.”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Jim Lewis, Virginia Car Accident Injury Attorney

How much is a life worth?  How about $500?  I know it sounds ridiculous, but that and a 90-day suspended jail term is what a driver got after hitting and badly injuring a cyclist on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (VA).  The at-fault driver had a suspended license at the time of the accident, and the cyclist remains in a coma.

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Kevin Duffan, Personal Injury Attorney in Virginia

Fresh produce on grocery store shelves often come from thousands of miles away. As proof of the problems this can present, iceberg lettuce grown in Arizona (AZ) has been pulled from Virginia (VA) shelves amid fears of salmonella contamination. To read more, visit “Iceberg Lettuce Pulled from VA Shelves.”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Kevin Duffan, Carolina Dangerous Products Attorney

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Toys Distribution Inc. have announced a recall of baby rattles that can break into small pieces that children can swallow and choke on. As an added concern, the handle on the rattle is small enough to become stuck in a child’s mouth.

The recall includes several models of the rattles. They were sold in a variety of pastel colors and shapes. A toy phone, animal, small buggy and sea horse were some of the shapes. They were sold in sets of five or eight rattles per box. Made in China, the rattles in question are labeled “HANDBELL TOYS” in the upper left corner of the box. One set is labeled “JUNYI” on the upper right of the box, and “ITEM NO.58083801” is printed on a white label on the lower back. Another box set has “XIN DA MEI” on the front of the package in the upper right corner. “ITEM NO.308363 is printed on a white sticker on the lower back corner.

If you find any of these rattles in your home, return them to the store where you bought them. You can also contact Toys Direct for a full refund or replacement. For more information, email the firm at mailbox@shoptdi.com.

Dangerous and defective products are never okay. But when the toys our infants play with can seriously injure or kill, the risk is completely unacceptable. If you or a loved one has suffered because of a defective product, consider speaking with an attorney about your experience.

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.

By Emily Mapp Brannon, Carolina Dangerous Products Attorney

The food we purchase for our families should be fresh, healthy and, above all, safe to eat. A North Carolina (NC)-based company, Raeford Farms, has recalled their cooked chicken breasts after a test revealed Listeria monocytogenes contamination. To learn more, visit “North Carolina Company Recalls Chicken Breasts..”

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About the Editors: Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have provided legal advice and representation for thousands of car, truck, motorcycle, and ATV accident victims, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the towns along Route 13, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive.