Worthington Law Group
Injury Law Report

As summer advances and as the grass starts to grow, more people will take out their mowers and cut their lawns. However, it is easy to forget just how dangerous mowers can be. Every year, mowers are responsible for thousands of injuries, many to children.

The injury rate with mowers (especially riding mowers) is surprisingly high, with 663,000 people needing medical attention due to mower injuries between 1996 and 2004, and with an average injury rate among owners of riding mowers of 2.6 injuries per 1,000 users. It is important to remember that over the course of a year most people use their mowers only once or twice each month. This means that, per use, mowers are actually far more dangerous than many other kinds of products, including cars and even guns.
Injuries caused by lawnmowers can be very serious. Many injuries are the result of people being exposed to the whirling mower blades. These blades are designed to cut grass but they can also cut humans. They can result in the loss of fingers, toes, and even entire limbs. Debris, such as rocks and sticks are shot out of the mower’s discharge chute at 170 miles per hour and can cause eye injuries and blunt trauma. Others are burned on exposed engine parts and mower decks, which can get very hot when a mower is in use.
Backover Accidents

The most serious type of lawnmower injury is the so called “backover accident.” As suggested by the name, a backover accident occurs when a lawnmower operator backs over himself or someone else. Backover accidents alone injure nearly 600 children per year. Although all mower accidents have the potential to be serious, backover accidents are often the worst for children. The operator rolls the mower entirely over the child because he does not see the child behind him.

A few years ago, the lawnmower industry voluntarily placed a safety feature on mowers, called the “no mow in reverse” feature. This feature automatically disconnects the mower’s blades when the mower is put into reverse, theoretically eliminating the possibility of a backover accident. The problem is that the mower industry also added a feature that allows mower operators to override this safety feature so they can continue to mow in reverse. It is also possible to mow in reverse even if the operator does not override the feature. For example, the mower is mowing uphill and the gears slip, causing the mower to roll backwards—in such cases, the no mow in reverse feature often does not work.

In the Courts

Lawsuits over the dangerous condition of mowers have had mixed results. In several federal cases, the courts have found that warnings to keep children away from the mower were adequate and that the mower manufacturer was therefore not liable for not installing a no mow in reverse feature or for allowing it to be overridden. Lawsuits in state courts have been more favorable, with juries faulting the mower manufacturer for the lack of some safety feature several times.
If you have been injured by a lawnmower, you might have a products liability suit against the manufacturer and others. Products liability suits tend to be complex: The defendant usually fights such claims very vigorously, because even one successful claim could open the door to hundreds or thousands of other claims.
These lawsuits also tend to be highly technical. They require detailed evidence from design and manufacturing experts about how the product was made incorrectly, how it could have been done differently, and how all of these failures caused the injury.

It is tough to go it alone. Call us. We look forward to discussing your case and your options with you.

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently ordered a serious change to the warning label on four drugs commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis: Enbrel, Remicade, Humira, and Cimzia. These drugs work by suppressing the immune system, thereby reducing symptoms of the disease. The problem is that if your immune system is suppressed, then you are more susceptible to other kinds of infection or illness.

The FDA became concerned because it received a number of reports of people taking these drugs who contracted a fungal infection called histoplasmosis. This infection can have serious consequences if not caught early. However, because its initial symptoms resemble the flu, people often do not seek treatment until it is too late. Almost 20% of the cases where people took rheumatoid arthritis drugs and contracted histoplasmosis ended in death.

To better warn people of the danger, the FDA now requires these four rheumatoid arthritis drugs to contain a warning about histoplasmosis in a “black box.” A black box warning is the strongest kind of warning found in prescription drug literature, and will hopefully help bring the matter to the attention of both doctors and patients.