A severely burned Georgia couple filed suit against the Power Quick Pot Electric manufacturer.

ATLANTA (August 9, 2023) – Beasley Allen lawyers Preston Moore, Tom Willingham and Mary Leah Miller filed a lawsuit against Tristar Products Inc. after one of the company’s pressure cookers exploded, shooting scalding contents onto Andrew and Kaylle Jewell and seriously burning the couple as their children watched in sheer terror.

“Tragedy struck when our clients least expected it,” said Moore, based out of Beasley Allen’s Atlanta office. “It’s horrific that the Jewells suffered severe and permanent injuries while cooking their family dinner. It’s even worse that the children witnessed the event. Tristar must account for its actions and inactions that led to this devastating result.”

The Jewells were preparing a homemade meal of spicy pork tacos on a recent summer evening when the unthinkable happened. Mrs. Jewell released the pressure valve of the Power Quick Pot Electric Pressure Cooker, Model Y6D-36, to let the steam and pressure escape. Once the pressure cooker was no longer releasing steam, Mr. Jewell began to open the lid. Suddenly, the lid exploded off the top of the pressure cooker, ejecting searing pork and other contents onto Mr. and Mrs. Jewell. The Jewells ran screaming to their shower and jumped in. Quickly realizing their burns could not be soothed with cold water, they drove to the nearest ER where doctors and nurses treated their painful injuries.   

The Jewells allege that Tristar knew about the pressure cooker’s defects but failed to warn consumers or remedy the problem. Tristar pressure cooker users nationwide have been seriously burned, yet the company took no steps to protect against future harm from its products.

The Jewells further allege that Tristar was negligent in designing, manufacturing and testing its pressure cooker. Additional claims include breach of warranty and strict liability.

The case is Andrew Jewell and Kaylle Jewell v. Tristar Products, Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Newnan Division.

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Airbag Products Liability Case

$5.74 Million Settlement

For more than 40 years, the Beasley Allen Law Firm has been committed to “helping those who need it most.”  

Our attorneys are highly experienced in handling complex cases in courtrooms throughout the United States. In some situations, specific details are too intimate to disclose. 

We never stop working to bring our clients the justice they rightfully deserve. We can work for you too. Contact us for a free case evaluation. You pay us nothing if we do not win for you. 

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A judge’s ruling allows cancer victims who used talc products to proceed with claims against J&J.

Montgomery, Ala. (July 28, 2023) – Beasley Allen lawyers are pleased to announce a judge’s dismissal of LTL’s second bankruptcy attempt that would have limited the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s liability for manufacturing and selling cancer-causing talc products.

“Today the court has finally, rightfully denied this latest attempt by one of the world’s largest and most financially successful companies to abuse the bankruptcy system and avoid responsibility for its dangerous product,” said Beasley Allen’s Mass Torts Section Head Andy Birchfield. “J&J initially set aside $61.5 million in its first bogus bankruptcy. But J&J’s legal department proposed a settlement that offered only a fraction of that amount and sought the bankruptcy court’s assistance in cramming that bad deal down on cancer victims. Thankfully, with today’s order, that ploy is dead.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Michael Kaplan’s dismissal should allow users of asbestos-containing talc products who developed ovarian cancer and mesothelioma to resume their trials in federal and state courts. 

In his ruling, Judge Kaplan found that LTL failed to show a level of financial distress necessitating bankruptcy protection. 

“The evidentiary record fixed at trial does not establish sufficient ‘imminent’ or ‘immediate’ financial distress to satisfy the criteria enunciated by the Third Circuit. Simply put, the Debtor does not meet the more exacting gateway requirement implemented by the Circuit with respect to ‘good faith’ which would allow LTL to take advantage of the tools available under the Bankruptcy Code to resolve its present and future talc liabilities,” Judge Kaplan writes.

LTL previously attempted to settle all current and future talc claims with an $8.9 billion offer. Plaintiffs and their attorneys refused.  

“Average costs for medical care, lost wages, lost jobs and pain and suffering can average more than $500,000 and up to more than a million dollars per victim. The plan would have paid a tiny fraction of the amount needed to fairly compensate victims of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma,” said Michelle Parfitt, a lawyer who co-chairs the talc multidistrict litigation Plaintiffs Steering Committee with Beasley Allen attorney Leigh O’Dell.

“We believe that J&J should be willing to accept responsibility and, as the company likes to say, resolve these cases fairly and equitably,” said O’Dell, Plaintiffs Steering Committee co-chair. “This has gone on too long. It’s time for our clients to have their days in court and for J&J to stop its bullying tactics and end this nightmare for victims.”

About Beasley Allen Law Firm

Founded in 1979, Beasley Allen Law Firm is a leader in complex plaintiff litigation nationwide. We work with attorneys and clients nationwide and have offices located in Atlanta, Georgia, Dallas, Texas, Mobile, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama. Our award-winning attorneys live by our creed of “helping those who need it most.”

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A Mobile County, Alabama, jury ruled in favor of our client who was permanently blinded in the left eye by a defective Nissan airbag.

Although airbags should protect us during car accidents, they can severely injure us. That’s what happened to one of our clients who was permanently blinded in the left eye after a defective airbag deployed during a crash.

Beasley Allen lawyers Evan Allen, Kendall Dunson and Mike Andrews worked with outside co-counsel to secure an $8.5 million verdict against Nissan North America, Inc. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, for the client.

“Our client’s life completely changed when a product – the airbag – that was supposed to protect her permanently blinded her,” said Allen, based out of Beasley Allen’s Mobile, Ala., office. “Nissan knew the airbag used in the vehicle our client was riding in would not protect her but, in fact, increased the risk of death or injury. Her life will never be the same. She is forced to adapt to a new normal all because of the defendants’ negligence and disregard for her safety.”

In October 2018, our client was a passenger in a 1998 Infiniti QX4 on McVay Drive in Mobile County, Alabama. Suddenly, defendant Cassie Sowa’s 2015 Ford Fusion crossed into our client’s lane, colliding with the QX4 at 10 mph. The QX4’s passenger’s side airbag violently deployed, striking and causing permanent blindness in our client’s left eye.

Our client claimed that Nissan was negligent in designing, testing and manufacturing the QX4 and that the automaker knew or should have known that the defective airbag could injure people in the vehicle. Our client also claimed that Nissan was liable under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer’s Liability Doctrine because different airbag designs existed that would have prevented the injury our client received. 

The case was filed in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama, case number 02-CV-202-901869.00

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A $30 million settlement was the result of a whistleblower case we handled that also involved matters of national security. The case shows the critical role of whistleblowers.

We often assume that those entrusted to keep us safe will do so, but that’s not always the case. It is especially scary when those involved in national security matters fail to protect us.

That is exactly what happened in a monumental case Beasley Allen lawyers W. Daniel “Dee” Miles, III, and Larry Golston handled against a client’s former employer, U.S. Investigations Services, Inc. (USIS). USIS formerly conducted background checks on federal employees and those applying for federal jobs.

The government once hired USIS to perform most of its background checks. Background checks performed by USIS included investigations into the backgrounds of Edward Snowden and Aaron Alexis before the government hired them. Snowden later gave away highly classified information about National Security Agency surveillance. Sadly, Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard.   

Our client, Blake Percival, filed a lawsuit against USIS, accusing the company of violating the whistleblower, or qui tam, provision of the False Claims Act (FCA). In his complaint, Mr. Percival said that USIS ran improper background investigations on people asking for security clearances. From March 2008 until at least September 2012, USIS ran a scheme to bypass government requirements for background checks. This illegal activity profited the company. 

Mr. Percival claimed that USIS practiced “dumping” or “flushing.” This involved turning cases over to the Office of Personnel Management as though they were complete when, in fact, USIS performed very little or no investigation on the people it was supposed to clear. The lawsuit claimed that USIS failed to conduct thorough background checks on at least 665,000 of those requesting security clearances.

In qui tam cases, the government has the option to join the lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) decided to join Mr. Percival’s action in 2013. 

In 2015, Altegrity, USIS’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy would make it harder for the government to recover money USIS owed. It would also decrease Mr. Percival’s chance of receiving reward money. Under the FCA, whistleblowers may receive up to 30 percent of the funds recovered by the government. 

Despite this challenge, Dee and Larry pressed forward with the case. The DOJ also agreed to continue with the case. Our lawyers ultimately secured $30 million in settlement money when USIS canceled payments owed to the company.

“Mr. Percival is one of the most important whistleblowers in recent history,” Dee said. “USIS was a key part of this nation’s security procedures, and they were blatantly lying about having completed critical background checks on people who would receive top secret clearances. Mr. Percival put his future, his family’s future and years of hard work on the line in order to tell the truth. And as a result, the nation is safer. The importance of his actions cannot be understated.”

Larry added, “Being a whistleblower is not something Mr. Percival set out to do, but because of the enormous safety and national security concerns involved, he felt compelled to do so. He should be applauded for his efforts in bringing this national security issue to light. Hopefully, this case will embolden others who are aware of fraud being perpetrated against the government to come forward and tell their stories to assist the government.”

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Beasley Allen lawyer, Ben Locklar, in our firm’s Personal Injury and Products Liability Section, is investigating a potential product liability claim for the son of an Alabama woman fatally injured when a wheel detached from a food service trailer struck her vehicle.

This tragic and entirely preventable incident occurred in October 2022 when Margaret Greenwood of Anniston, Alabama, was traveling west on Interstate 20 in her 2019 KIA Optima LX. At the same time, a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 driven by Hector Vidal Cosme was traveling eastbound on I-20, hauling the food service trailer. When both vehicles were near the I-459 interchange in Jefferson County, the front left tire and rim suddenly separated from the trailer’s wheel hub.

The detached wheel and rim rolled across several lanes of I-20 East, hopped over the concrete barrier, and entered the I-20 West lanes. Some witnesses were able to swerve around the wheel as it bounced into the roadway, but Margaret Greenwood was unable to avoid a collision. The wheel hit the roof of her car, causing it to careen off the interstate and into a metal light pole. Ms. Greenwood suffered several broken bones in the crash and a fatal head injury from the wheel’s impact on her vehicle’s roof.

Ms. Greenwood’s son, Philip Michael Greenwood, hired Ben to investigate the crash that needlessly claimed his mother’s life, including how and why a wheel assembly on a commercial trailer failed and allowed the wheel to detach.

Mr. Cosme’s employer, Eliel Jimenez Aviles, of Aviles Food Service, LLC, owned both the Chevy Silverado and the food service trailer. “Our investigation determined that Mr. Aviles purchased food equipment, such as an oven, tables and other items, and installed those in the trailer,” Ben explained. “The manufacturer designed the trailer to include such equipment, but there is no indication that the trailer manufacturer provided any guidance to a food service provider as to how to load the trailer properly.”

Ben indicated that the lack of instructions regarding the safe loading and installation of equipment in the trailer could support a failure to warn claim if the investigation shows it contributed to the wheel assembly failure.

Ben said it is possible the trailer has serious flaws that contributed to the wheel breaking free from the trailer. That is something he is working with a team of experts to determine.

“The trailer itself was fairly new, and one would not expect a wheel to come off of a fairly new trailer without some indication of a failure of the trailer’s mechanical aspects. Beasley, Allen is continuing to investigate this matter to try and determine why the wheel came off the trailer and claimed the life of Margaret Greenwood.”

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Navan Ward in our Mass Torts Section says the hair relaxer litigation reminds him of how personal our work is because his family members could easily be victims of this defective product.

Many of us do not think about the ingredients we use in everyday cosmetics. Others feel safe because we know the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the industry based on the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. 

Even so, unsafe products still end up in consumers’ hands. One reason this happens is that cosmetic marketers and manufacturers are responsible for their own product labeling and ingredient lists. Also, ingredients can be unlisted to protect “trade secrets.”

For years, mostly Black women used chemical hair relaxers to straighten their hair, a European beauty standard marketed to them by cosmetic manufacturers aware of the dangers their products posed. Recent studies show that women who use hair relaxers have a higher chance of developing uterine cancer, endometrial uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer.

For Navan Ward, a lawyer in our Mass Torts Section and based out of our Atlanta office, the hair relaxer lawsuits are personal. His wife, mother, sister, aunts, cousins and friends have previously used hair relaxers throughout the years and could have easily become victims of these defective products. He says:

As I inform my family and friends of the issues with these products, I hear firsthand accounts of how they felt pressure to straighten their hair to fit in or conform to the European standard of beauty that put them at risk of a deadly disease. The pressure that my family and friends describe is similar to what many of the victims of these products describe. 

As a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee of the Hair Relaxer consolidated federal court lawsuits, I’m proud to work with attorneys around the country to hold these manufacturers responsible for the injuries that they have caused. However, admittedly this litigation hits close to home, knowing that either now or in the near future, my loved ones could also be someone I represent. This is a sobering reality of how dangerous these products are and why Beasley Allen continues its fight to ensure that companies do the right thing because no one is immune from being a victim of corporate wrongdoing.  

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A team of lawyers in Beasley Allen’s Consumer Fraud & Commercial Litigation Section has filed a new class action lawsuit against Ford Motor Company. This class action expands a class action we filed in January 2021 concerning brake failure in certain Ford F-150 pickup trucks, Ford Expeditions, and Lincoln Navigators. While the existing class action includes vehicles Ford previously recalled to repair a dangerous brake system defect, the new lawsuit alleges that the same problem affects newer models and other engine configurations. Our investigation of these brake failures has found that many consumers continue to drive in vehicles that Ford has not recalled or admitted there is a problem. 

Ford’s Brake Master Cylinder Defect

For years, drivers have complained of brake failure in 2013-2019 Ford F-150 pickup trucks. Lawsuits alleging problems with defective sealing mechanisms in the master cylinder continued mounting to include 2015-2019 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.

The Hitachi step-bore master cylinder in these vehicles contains a rear seal that can fail prematurely, causing the brake fluid to leak externally into the brake booster. We contend that a middle seal can also fail in these master cylinders, which can cause brake fluid pressure to leak/recirculate internally.

In either situation, the leaking reduces front braking power and shifts the braking responsibility to the rear brakes. When this happens, the vehicle requires a much longer stopping distance or experiences a complete loss of braking power. Trucks and SUVs disabled by this defect pose a serious safety hazard to drivers, vehicle occupants, and other motorists in the vicinity.

Ford’s Deficient Recalls

Ford recalled the brake system in 2013-2018 Ford F-150 pickup trucks and 2016-2017 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs in three separate recalls. But instead of recalling all vehicles with the defective Hitachi brake system, Ford limited the recalls to vehicles with one specific engine, the 3.5L GTDI Ecoboost. 

Ford did not recall trucks and SUVs equipped with other engine packages combined with the same faulty system that leaks and loses pressure in the front brakes. This is especially troubling because Ford equipped about half its 2013-2019 F-150s with a 5.0 V8 engine package and the same defective brake system. Yet these 5.0L V8-powered trucks are not included in any of the recalls. We believe these exclusions endanger lives.

It’s also troubling that Ford started adding the same defective brake system in its Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs in 2015, yet did not recall them until 2022. Ford recalled the SUVs several years after recalling its F-150s in 2016 over the same defective braking systems because of their high failure rate. That means Ford knew these braking systems were dangerously defective well before 2016. But instead of promptly recalling the affected vehicles, it waited seven years to warn drivers of the braking hazards the Ford and Lincoln SUVs posed. No matter how you look at it, this delay and Ford’s refusal to recall all the vehicles affected by the faulty brake system needlessly put countless lives at risk.

Drivers of Unrecalled Models at Risk

Drivers of the vehicles affected but not recalled have no way of learning about the defect unless they hear about it word of mouth or experience the defect failure in their own vehicle. For those who do know of the defect or experience first-hand the results of it, Ford expects them to have the appropriate dealership repairs made at their own expense. 

The New Class Action

Beasley Allen’s team of lawyers litigating the new class action, Terry Klepac v. Ford Motor Company, includes Dee Miles, who heads our Consumer Fraud & Commercial Litigation Section. The court appointed Dee as Co-Lead Class Counsel and class representative. Other Beasley Allen lawyers handling this case are Clay Barnett, who leads the trial team, and Rebecca Gilliland, Dylan Martin, and Mitch Williams. We are litigating the case with Co-Counsel from the Miller Law Firm PC, Dicello Levitt and Lieff Cabraser Heimann Bernstein, LLP.

The complaint, filed on March 15, 2023, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, details the harrowing crash our Texas plaintiff and his wife experienced when the master cylinder and brakes completely failed in his V8-equipped 2019 Ford F-150.

The lawsuit seeks damages for class members who purchased or leased a 2019 Ford F-150 truck, 2015-2019 Ford Expedition or 2015-2019 Lincoln Navigator equipped with a 2.7L, 3.5L, 5.0L, 6.2L, or other engine and a Hitachi step-bore master cylinder.

Weidman, et. al. v. Ford Motor Co.

As mentioned previously, the new class action expands product defect claims asserted in a January 2021 class action lawsuit. 

In April 2022, Michigan Federal Judge Gershwin Drain gave the green light to product defect claims in Weidman, et. al. v. Ford Motor Co., certifying a class of consumers who purchased or leased a 2013-2018 Ford F-150 equipped with the Hitachi step-bore master cylinder but not included in Ford’s 2020 safety recall in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. 

Judge Drain held that common questions of fact exist in the plaintiffs’ claims and should be heard by a jury to determine whether there is a brake system defect in the class vehicles, whether Ford knew about the brake system defect before selling affected vehicles, and whether the brake system defect is material.

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Our Atlanta-based lawyers often handle apartment complex negligent security claims. They say negligent security laws help provide accountability for bad actors and make communities safer.

News reports today often involve stories of people injured or killed by gun violence in apartment complexes, especially in major cities like Atlanta. Unfortunately, shootings occur so frequently that people sometimes shrug them off. In Atlanta this past spring, violent incidents at apartment complexes included the shooting of a one-month-old, a man gunned down in his car, a shooting event that killed one person and injured another, an April shooting that killed one and injured three and several May shootings.     

Violence like this tends to take place in apartment complexes funded partly by the government. The government helps cover part or all of the rent for people who have trouble paying, like those who are disabled or poor. Residents often include single mothers, veterans and the elderly. 

Government money should provide a safe place for these residents to live. Funds should also be used to ensure surrounding communities are safe, but that is frequently not the case.  

Complex managers may use the money to fix up the apartments in the beginning. As nice as this sounds, they raise the rent, collect more money from the government and then fail to maintain the apartments. Management raises the rent higher and higher while ignoring problems with the property, including crime.

When investigating cases at apartment complexes, Beasley Allen lawyers from our Atlanta office have seen people living in terrible conditions. Some units have no running water, water leaks, no heating and air, exposed electric wires, dangerous electric systems, black mold, ceilings falling in, no fire alarms, carbon monoxide hazards and rats and bugs crawling everywhere. These complexes draw criminals because they assume no one is paying attention.

As crime increases, residents, visitors and the surrounding community face danger. Criminals injure people and sometimes take their lives. Drug and gang activity also keeps new businesses from opening near these complexes. 

Crime often begins when apartment management fails to fix problems. That’s why our lawyers handle negligent security cases, securing millions for victims and their families. Recently, our Atlanta lawyers secured a $160 million verdict and a $26 million settlement, among others, in Georgia negligent security cases.

Making apartment management answer for unsafe complexes decreases crime and saves lives. We will continue our effort to keep apartment residents and surrounding communities safe.

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