In recent weeks, our team at Romanucci & Blandin filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for permanent vision damage caused by the prescription medication Elmiron (pentosan polysulfate sodium, or PPS). It is just the latest of lawsuits against one of America’s most notorious lawbreakers and its subsidiaries, like Janssen Pharmaceuticals, whose products have caused cancer (Talc), addiction (Opioids), bleeding events (Xarelto), kidney damage (Invokana), metal poisoning (hip implants), and male breast growth ...

At Romanucci & Blandin, we have the distinct privilege of representing clients in some of the most significant and most devastating cases from around the world: the Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash in Ethiopia, mass shootings in Las Vegas and Orlando, and claims nationwide for cancer caused by products like Roundup and Zantac. These cases bring together individuals who have all been injured, sickened, or otherwise harmed or killed by a common cause. Our firm is proud to not only seek justice for those people but also lead groups of law firms in that pursuit in such other high-profile cases as:

With everyone staying closer to home this summer, it’s important to be aware of the dangers at/on playgrounds and other common places that could cause children to be injured. Stay safe this summer by following our proposed safety guidelines below:

• Adult Supervision
  • Adult Supervision is a MUST. Young children are not always able to measure distances and have difficulty foreseeing dangerous situations.
• Playground Design Safety
  • The most important factors in evaluating the safety of any playground are proper surface, design and spacing, and equipment inspection and maintenance.

A new national consumer safety law, first introduced in 2008, was finally passed on June 27 of this year. It is titled “Danny’s Law” in honor of the 16-month-old child who tragically died after a defective playpen collapsed on him.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., announced the new, stricter safety rules for children’s products. She was joined at the Capitol by Danny’s mother, Linda Ginzel, who, with her husband, Boaz Keysar, campaigned unrelentingly for the new law.

In 1998, little Danny was strangled at a day care center in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood while ...

A young Colorado mother died after suffering a head injury and a broken neck, the result of a water slide experience gone awry. The Banzai Falls slide she was on deflated.

This tragic accident, plus another when a camp counselor in Missouri was left a person quadriplegic after hitting his head in the same maneuver, and other reports of serious injuries, spurred the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on May 10, 2012, to recall the 21,000 inflatable Banzai in-ground pool water slides sold by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Toys R Us, Inc.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in one of ...

Imagine that you had hip replacement surgery only to discover that your new, all-metal hip had been recalled. That is the nightmare facing virtually 30,000 patients right now in the U.S., leading to thousands of medical malpractice lawsuits.

The real issue in this case is that the hip manufacturer appears to have withheld the findings in a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) report about safety issues with the hip. This happened long before the recall.

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics, made a decision not to publicize the agency’s findings to doctors, patients and ...

We believe no responsible parent would buy toys that pose safety or health hazards to their children, but how do you know what’s safe and what isn’t? How can you avoid an accident that could lead to a personal injury lawsuit?

Thankfully, the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, in its annual “Trouble in Toyland” report, lists some of the toys that can potentially harm children.

On the list are toys with high levels of lead and those that pose choking hazards, such as marbles and balls sold without warning labels.  Parents should keep kids younger than 8 away from balloons ...

We at Romanucci & Blandin were saddened to learn about the recent deaths of two Chicago-area children who died when TV sets tipped over and crushed them. Those deaths may never have happened if the TV sets in their homes had been secured to the wall with inexpensive nylon straps.

We agree with some experts that TV manufacturers should include the safety straps as part of the sale. Electronic retailers seldom mention the straps when they are closing the sale. It can also be difficult to find mounting kits that include straps and brackets.

In addition to the safety straps, here are some tips to ...

For most 15-year-olds, driver’s education classes are an exciting rite of passage where they get to put all the Illinois Rules of the Road classroom knowledge into practice behind the wheel. But car safety issues are compromising most Chicago-area driver’s ed programs, according to a Chicago Tribune story.

In Chicago, public school students practice their driving skills in what the Tribune calls “some of the oldest and worst-rated driver’s education cars in the state.”  Safety ratings of the cars students learn to drive in vary dramatically. Crash-test ratings for the ...

They somewhat resemble an ordinary candle, but those portable firepots that hold gel fuel have caused serious burns and even death. We agree with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who wants the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall all gel fuel products.

The Commission says that 57 injuries and two deaths have been reported as a result of the pots. They are investigating the cases and the products on the market to determine why such accidents have occurred.

In firepots, the flame is fueled by gel that comes out of a bottle and burns without a wick. The products have ...

It’s not surprising to us that youth are still being injured on the baseball field by balls hit off a metal bat. The latest injury happened to a boy in South Dakota in late April, when 11-year-old Trey Brown suffered a brain injury after being hit in the head by a ball hit off an aluminum bat.

We’re not surprised because, even though Little League International banned the use of composite bats, they didn’t rule out other metal bats. They should have!

Trey Brown came home from a local baseball game complaining of a headache and soon began vomiting. His parents took him to the hospital ...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned consumers to stop participating in water-walking balls, calling them unsafe, with the possibility that they could lead to suffocation or drowning. We at Romanucci & Blandin not only underscore the dangers but don’t believe the government went far enough. These dangerous recreational devices should be banned.

Commonly used at amusement parks, fairs and malls, the inflatable spheres are often used by children. A rider climbs into the ball, which is then zipped up. It rolls along the water's surface as the rider walks, much like ...

Chicago personal injury firm Romanucci & Blandin has learned about a new study that shows alarming results: high school athletes are four times more likely to suffer a concussion today than they were 10 years ago.

According to a study by Andrew Lincoln, who heads the Sports Medicine Research Center at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, in 2008, there were about five concussions for every 10,000 times kids got hit on the playing field. This compares with slightly more than 10,000 in 1997.

It’s unclear what drove the numbers up, but researchers say it’s likely a combination of ...

If you’re ever injured in a car accident, you have a better chance of receiving restitution for your injuries, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling late last week, and Chicago personal injury firm Romanucci & Blandin applauds the ruling.

The court held that a federal regulation that gives carmakers the option of installing either lap belts or lap-and-shoulder belts in rear-inner seats does not preempt state law.

In reaching this result, and by correcting the misreading of a previous case, the court has deprived car manufacturers of one of their most readily used defenses to ...

Last week, Romanucci & Blandin filed a lawsuit on behalf of Robert F. and Cheryl L. Schutter, parents of Jake R. Schutter, age 11, against Easton Sports, Inc., d/b/a Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. Our client, an 11-year-old boy, suffered hearing loss as a result of being struck in the head by a baseball hit by an Easton Sports’ aluminum baseball bat.

In the lawsuit, we alleged that the bat was unreasonably dangerous because of the “trampoline” effect these bats are designed to create. The lawsuit generated quite a response in the blogosphere. Some of the comments were supportive ...

Let’s make a simple point: the catcher is wearing protective equipment behind the plate to protect himself mostly from foul balls.

The batter is wearing a helmet, at a minimum, to protect himself from errant pitches when he is unable to duck out of the way in time. The pitcher who stands the same distance away as the batter is unprotected from a ball that travels faster off the bat than it arrives at home plate -- which means the pitcher has less time to perceive and react to a ball than a batter would.

We all know that metal bats perform better than wood bats. period. If they did not, we would not be ...

A big high-five to the California Interscholastic Federation for its surprise announcement on Wednesday that high school baseball teams must follow new safety standards for metal bats!

The Federation made the announcement in the wake of serious accidents that brought national attention to the bats’ safety. The state legislature had been considering a law that would have placed a two-year moratorium on the use of metal bats. Assemblyman Jared Huffman, who introduced the bill, said he postponed a vote for months while working with the CIF to implement safety changes. The CIF will ...

In softball, little league, senior league and college baseball, most of the bats are made out of aluminum. Proponents of aluminum bats say that metal bats hit the ball harder and farther. But in truth, metal bats aren’t safe. They should be banned, especially for use by youth leagues.

Brain injuries, chest injuries, and even deaths have resulted when metal bats were used by children. Metal bats may increase the speed of the ball, but is a higher batting average worth the risk? Isn’t it ironic that, when it comes to professional baseball, players say that wood baseball bats are a must?

As most of our blog visitors know, we are outspoken critics of the use of metal baseball bats by youth leagues because of the catastrophic head injuries and other injuries they can and do cause. Some of our visitors tell us they not only respect our point of view but have climbed on the “ban” bandwagon and now support our campaign.

That means that a few metal baseball bats must be sitting around collecting dust. So before you toss that metal bat in the trash (and contaminate our environment), consider recycling. Metal bats are recyclable! In fact, the aluminum in metal bats can be recycled ...

March 5, 2009 – The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday voted 6-3 to uphold the traditional right of consumers to sue a manufacturer if they are harmed by a defective product. Attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin in Chicago hailed the decision as a victory for consumers.

The ruling affirmed a nearly $7 million jury verdict in favor of Diana Levine, a Vermont musician whose right arm was amputated after she was injected with an anti-nausea drug. The ruling applies to more than 11,000 drugs on the market in the U.S., including over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs.

Tony Romanucci, a ...

The Chicago Tribune deserves praise for its front-page story, “More safety gear urged for young ballplayers,” for calling the public’s attention to the need for greater safety on the baseball diamond.

As parents, we encourage our children to excel at sports, often compromising safety for a winning pennant. This mindset in our nation must change. Where does it say that our children should accept and face the risk of a life-threatening injury, such as a traumatic brain injury, simply because they play baseball? Serious injuries inflicted as a result of the lack of proper ...

Those who know our firm are aware that community safety in the Chicago area is always one of our priorities. When one of my son’s friends was seriously injured in a Little League baseball game on opening day this spring, I knew that someone had to do something. Fortunately, the boy’s mom has been very successful at advocating for wooden bats to replace metal bats. Her article “Metal Bats Strike out with Barrington Parents” highlights the inherent dangers of metal bats.

What follows is my letter to the editors of all of the major publications in Chicago. The letter was published in ...