Maryland Accident Law Blog

No CO Detector in Rowhouse Where Fatal Baltimore Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Occurred

December 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to The Baltimore Sun, Department of Housing and Community Development assistant commissioner Eric Booker says the rowhouse that was the scene of a deadly Baltimore carbon monoxide poisoning accident did not have a CO detector even though one should have been installed and working properly. The victims, 40-year-old Vonita Gibbs and 30-year-old Mikeia Lucas, died on Tuesday after a gas oven was left on with the door open. Three others people, two adult males and a child, were admitted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in serious condition.

City officials are reporting that the lower part of the oven had been covered with aluminum foil, which caused the gas to build before coming out. The gas then entering a heating duct that allowed it to spread to practically every room. According to fire officials, CO readings were as high as 500 parts per million in the unit.

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, while carbon monoxide poisoning can pose a serious threat, it can be especially deadly during the winter, when people are trying to stay warm. In addition to the Baltimore accident, this week, a couple and their child, age 7, were taken to the hospital in Connecticut on Monday afternoon because of a CO poisoning incident in their apartment that was caused by a defective furnace. That same day, a maid found the bodies of five teenagers in a Florida hotel room. A car that had been left running in the private garage underneath the room is believe to have caused their fatal CO poisoning.

With over 400 people killed and thousands ending up in emergency rooms in the US each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, it is important that product manufacturers and premise owners make sure that they do not create or fail to remedy any type of hazard that could cause a CO poisoning accident to occur. The risk of carbon monoxide leaks go up in the wintertime with people using heating appliances and ovens to stay warm.

Open oven determined to be culprit in carbon monoxide poisoning, The Baltimore Sun, December 29, 2010
Family rushed to hospital after carbon monoxide poisoning, CT Post, December 27, 2010
Carbon monoxide poses a real, and needless, threat, USA Today, December 28, 2010
5 found dead in Florida motel room, CNN, December 28, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Carbon Monoxide May Be Greater Threat in Winter, US News, December 27, 2010

A Guide to Preventing Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

$3.25M Montgomery County, Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks Damages from Bar Over 2008 Drunk Driving Crash that Killed 10-Year-Old

December 21, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of Jazmine Warr is suing Dogfish Head Alehouse owner JMGM Group LLC for her Maryland wrongful death. The 10-year-old girl died from injuries she sustained during a Montgomery County car accident in on Interstate 270 August 2008. Her half sister Cortovia Harris, then 11, survived the crash with injuries, as did William J. Warr Jr., 53 and Angela T. Warr, 45.

Warr was fatally injured when the 1995 Jeep Cherokee that she was riding was struck by a vehicle driven by Michael D. Eaton, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a vehicle and failure to remain at an accident scene where the defendant should have known or knew that death occurred. Eaton was reportedly driving his auto at speeds of 88 to 99 mph when he rear-ended the car that the Warrs were in.

Maryland State Police reports state that Eaton, a known drunk, spent at least two hours at the Dogfish Head Alehouse before the catastrophic collision. More than a dozen empty beer bottles were found in hisvehicle following the 2008 accident.

20-Year-Old Survivor of 2008 Maryland Medevac Crash Sues FAA for $50M

December 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

20-year-old Jordan Wells is suing the Federal Aviation Administration for Maryland personal injury. The Waldorf resident is the only one to survive the 2008 Medevac crash involving a Maryland State Police helicopter in District Heights. She is seeking $50 million.

According to Wells’ Maryland aviation accident lawsuit, FAA traffic controllers gave Maryland State Pilot Stephen J. Bunker dated information about the weather conditions on September 27, 2008. She also claims that they failed to guide Bunker into a safe landing when the navigation equipment started to fail and that they did not notify paramedics about the last-known coordinates of the aircraft.

The chopper was transporting Wells and her friend, 17-year-old Ashley J. Younger, to the hospital after they had been involved in a Waldorf car accident. Wells contends that if she hadn’t been stuck in the woods for two hours with the helicopter on her body, her leg could have been saved.

Baltimore County Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Incident Kills 2 People and Sickens At Least 10 Others

December 14, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to Baltimore County Fire Department Divisional Chief Michael Robinson, the rental house in Pikesville where Nelvin Salguero and Enael Lemus died from carbon monoxide poisoning on Sunday was not equipped with a CO detector. County ordinance requires that a rental property come with the device. Firefighters said the carbon monoxide levels at the home was over 11 times greater than the level of CO there would have to be for a detector to go off.

Salguero and Lemus were construction workers who boarded with the family that rented the home. They each leave behind a wife and kids. Eight other people, including two children, fell ill during the Maryland CO poisoning, as did three of the police who responded to a 911 call and arrived at the scene. At least 10 of the Pikesville injury victims were treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center or University of Maryland Medical Center.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Winter is a time for carbon monoxide leaks to commonly occur. Many CO leaks happen because an active furnace is improperly vented is turned on or because of result of improperly vented hot water heaters or generators run with kerosene or gasoline.

As our Baltimore personal injury lawyers have reported in the past, carbon monoxide poisoning is the number one cause of accidental poisoning in the US. The Journal of American Medical Association attributes 2,100 deaths annually to CO poisoning, which can also cause brain injury, heart damage, endocrine damage, and cellular injuries.

There are steps that premise owners can take to reduce the chances that a carbon monoxide incident will occur, including:

• Installing a carbon monoxide detector in the building
• Making sure that the central heating system, appliances, vents, and chimneys are properly maintained and cleaned
• Ensuring that the flues are open when using a fireplaces,
• Making sure the appropriate fuel is used in paraffin space heaters
• Not using paint remover containing methylene chloride
2 dead, 10 sick in Pikesville carbon monoxide poisoning, The Baltimore Sun, December 13, 2010
Pikesville CO victims identified, ABC2News, December 13, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, eMedicineHealth
Protect Your Family and Yourself from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, US Environmental Protection Agency

Maryland Fire Deaths of Two Frostburg State University Students Caused by Overheated Pipe

December 7, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Investigators are now saying that the apartment fire that killed Frostburg State University students Alyssa Salazar, 20, and Evan Kullberg, 23, occurred because of an overheated flue pipe. The fatal Maryland fire occurred early Friday.

According to the state fire marshal’s office, the three alarm fire was caused by the flue pipe that went from a wood-burning stove through a wooden-frame wall on the first floor to the structure’s exterior. There is no indication that the smoke alarms in the couple’s apartment were working. Also, the building was constructed before the enactment of a 1990 law requiring new multifamily structures to set up sprinkler systems.

The state medical examiner’s preliminary findings is citing smoke inhalation as the two students’ cause of death. Salazar died on her birthday.

Maryland Premises Liability

Property owners and managers are supposed to make sure that their buildings are free from any hazards that could contribute to injury or death. This means making sure that there are no safety violations and that the appropriate devices, such as smoke detectors and fire alarms, and exit routes are in place in the event of the emergency. The building, its facilities, and utilities should also be properly maintained.

If someone you love was killed in an accident on a property that is owned or managed by another party, you may have grounds for a Maryland wrongful death lawsuit. If faulty maintenance or a product defect was a factor in causing the fatality, you also may have reason to seek damages from the product manufacturer or the company that provided the inadequate maintenance.

Fire that killed 2 Frostburg students was caused by overheated pipe, Baltimore Sun, December 6, 2010
No Smoke Detectors Found in Fatal Fire Near Md. Campus, Firehouse.com, December 7, 2010
Related Web Resources:

Fire Protection and Prevention, Maryland Code (PDF)

Fire Safety

Premises Liability, Maryland Accident Law Blog
Burn Injuries, Maryland Accident Law Blog

Family of Baltimore Bicyclist Settles Maryland Tanker Truck Accident Lawsuit Over His Wrongful Death

December 2, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of John R. “Jack” Yates has settled their Baltimore truck accident lawsuit with Potts & Callahan Inc. and tanker truck driver Michael Dale Chandler. Yates, 67, died on August 4, 2009 when his bicycle got stuck in the truck’s large wheels. The terms of the Maryland wrongful death lawsuit are confidential.

Yates’s family had initially sought $5 million from the defendants. They had accused the excavation, demolition, and equipment rental company for negligence. Investigators, however, found that Yates was at fault in the Baltimore bicycle accident and charges were not filed against the trucker, who failed to stop at the Maryland truck crash site. Police did not think that Chandler knew he had struck Yates.

However, the family’s Maryland wrongful death lawyer has called the investigation “one of the sloppiest” involving a death that he has seen in a long time. He claims there was evidence that Chandler failed to signal before turning and that this was not included in the police report. Also, the intersection where the crash happened had two large signs warning that there were bicyclists in the area.

72-Year-Old Hagerstown Woman Dies from Maryland Car Accident on Interstate 70

November 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Olga Liselotte Melton, a 72-year-old Hagerstown woman, was killed in a Maryland traffic crash on Saturday night on Interstate 70. Melton was riding in the front seat of a car driven by Helmut John Frick when their vehicle struck an unattended auto at around 11:19 pm.

Also on Saturday, 25-year-old Jayant Prasad Singh was killed when the Honda Accord he was a passenger in struck a tree at around 2am. The car driver, 25-year-old Rahul Sharma, was flown to Baltimore for treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries at R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

In other Maryland accident news, a Waldorf man died from injuries he sustained on Friday when his Toyota Camry hit the bed of a tow truck that was crossing US 301. The truck’s flatbed had been partially blocking a lane as the truck driver was turning right when the collision happened. The driver of the Toyota, 73-year-old Stanley Harten Wallace, was ejected from his car. He was later pronounced dead.

Salmonella Outbreak at Frederick County, Maryland Nursing Home Strikes 8 People

November 24, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The Frederick County Health Department says that eight people recently fell ill with Salmonella at the Homewood at Crumland Farms nursing home. One person who had to be hospitalized after developing Salmonella died afterward. The assisted living facility’s nursing home director says that the death was caused by other health issues.

Salmonella

This microscopic bacteria can be spread through food and feces and from person to person. Eating poultry or meat that wasn’t cooked at the right temperature can cause Salmonella. Although generally a non-life threatening condition, it can exacerbate existing health issues and can be very dangerous for infants, young kids, pregnant women, unborn babies, people with weakened immune systems, and older adults. Signs of Salmonella include fever, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

It is important that Maryland nursing home make sure that their kitchens are clean and satisfy all safety and health regulation and that food, drink, and produce are properly handled, stored, prepared, and cooked. In the event that a nursing home resident gets sick, develops health issues, and/or dies from Salmonella or from other food-related bacteria and the contamination could have been avoided were it not for negligence, carelessness, or recklessness, the patient may have grounds for a Frederick County nursing home negligence case.

About 400 people die a year from acute salmonellosis.

Salmonella outbreak sickens eight at Frederick nursing home, Frederick News Post, November 24, 2010
Frederick nursing home hit with 8 salmonella cases, Washington Examiner/AP, November 24, 2010
Salmonellosis, CDC
Related Web Resources:
Salmonella Questions and Answers, USDA

Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

$1.5 Million Maryland Personal Injury Lawsuit Filed Against Howard County Following Alleged Physical Assault by High School Assistant Football Coach

November 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Dan Mason is suing Howard County’s Board of Education for Maryland personal injury. Mason, whose son Nicholas “Neko” Rynn-Mason used to play football at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Maryland, claims that assistant football coach Brian Henderson physically assaulted him during a football game at the school. Mason is seeking $1.5 million.

In his Howard County personal injury complaint, Mason is alleging 10 counts, including negligence, defamation, and assault and battery. He claims that in October 2009, he and other game attendees were seated behind the Oakland Mills bench and making comments about the team’s play when, at one point, Henderson engaged him in a verbal altercation before charging at him. Two school officials reportedly had to restrain the assistant football coach. Mason says that when he later tried to give Henderson a box of Girl Scout cookies after the game the assistant coach ran at him again. This time, he allegedly made minor contact before he was again restrained.

The school later issued a denial-of-access notice against Mason barring him from the high school for a few weeks. Mason also contends that in November of 2009, after a classmate commented that his son was drunk, Neko was suspended for five days.

Update: Question 2 on the Maryland Ballot Passes

November 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In an earlier post, our Maryland car accident lawyers explained why we believed Marylanders should vote to pass Question 2 which increased Maryland District Court’s jurisdiction to $15,000.00. On November 2, 2010, 1,542,546 Marylanders cast a vote on the issue presented in Question 2. Of that number, 1,010,640, or 66% voted in favor of the increase. With the ballot initiative passed, we wondered when Maryland law would change to reflect the favorable vote on the ballot question.

It became clear to us the answer to “when does it take effect” was not clear. We called the office of Senator Mike Miller, President of the Maryland Senate. We spoke to an assistant of Senator Miller who patiently explained what she knew. We were informed that a number of steps need to take place before the change in law will become effective.

Based upon the telephone call, our understanding is that both the Maryland House and the Senate still need to develop and pass the final language of the law before it takes effect.