A Safe and Merry Holiday Season: Avoiding Defective Toys

Now that the holiday season is upon us, there are lots of reasons to buy gifts for your loved ones. As you’re purchasing toys for the little ones in your life, it’s important to make sure that you are keeping those in your care safe! Here at Ann Brown Legal, we work with parents when their children are injured. It’s important to think of the many ways children can be injured in the day-to-day, including when they’re having fun! As you’re buying for those that are close to you around this holiday season, be mindful of the gifts you choose.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 225,000 children were injured in 2018 by their toys.  As you’re buying toys, there are a few things you can do to screen the products keep your children safe. One general guideline is checking the age appropriateness on the packaging. If you’re buying for especially young children, you should check to see if there are any small parts of the toy that might be swallowed. Check the labels for approval from the Consumer Product Safety Commission or the American Society for Testing and Materials, and check if the toy company has published any warnings. 

You can also be knowledgeable about past cases of recalled hazardous toys. Toys in the past and present have been recalled for a variety of reasons, though there are some common themes in the ways toys have caused significant injuries or death. One mistake made by companies is including toxic chemicals in the toys that are poisonous when ingested (like in the Aquadots toy case.) Buckyballs became famous for it’s hazardous magnets, as magnets can cause significant injury when swallowed. Other common themes are related to heat: for example, early Easy-Bake Ovens were recalled for getting too hot, and some iterations of the Hoverboard were recalled for bursting into flame. (If you want to know about toys which have recalled recently, you can click here for a list of recalled items for 2019.)

As with other personal injury cases, you must prove that the other party (the toy company, in this case) was at fault. If your child has been injured by a toy, it can be difficult to sue the manufacturing company for compensation, as you have to prove negligence. You must prove that the toy you purchased was either defective, improperly designed, or didn’t include sufficient instructions for use or to keep your child safe. 

If your child has been injured by a defective toy and you need a personal injury lawyer, please call us at (319) 826-2250 for a free initial consultation. 

The above information is meant to be helpful, but is not meant to replace the legal advice of an attorney with whom you have an attorney-client relationship.

Lawyer Like a Mother

We are getting ready for Mother’s Day Weekend and I am hoping to spend Sunday being waited on hand and foot by my girls and my husband … or at least getting out of doing the laundry. But I am also reflecting on my mom and on being a mom and thinking about all of the mommas who have impacted me both personally and as a lawyer.

It feels like a cliché to say, “I would not be where I am today without my mom.” But sometimes phrases become cliché because they are universally true. I am not going to list all of the times my mom picked me up or pushed me forward or believed in me—there are too many. She forced me to go to college, encouraged me to go to law school and when the time came, to open my own law firm. When fear of failure held me back, she pushed and pushed with her relentless belief in both me and my idea of a different kind of law firm. She even came out of retirement to be the business manager at this firm, even though she is a bit over qualified.

And becoming a mom, well that has had a tremendous impact on the kind of lawyer I am too. When I first started practicing law, I saw my personal life and professional life as completely separate. But as my career went on and I grew from my failures and successes, I realized that my values, my family, my thoughts and feelings—all the parts that make up my life—were critically important to being the best lawyer that I can be.

I have no doubt that being a mom has made me a better lawyer.

1. It has certainly made me more patient. Without fail, it takes my 12-year-old daughter 30 minutes from the time I announce we have to leave until she is in the car with all items that she needs.

2. Having children is very humbling. All of my flaws, every mistake I make (big or small) my kids are right there to point it out to both me and complete strangers that may be nearby.

3. It has helped me to see what is important. When I represent injured people or families who have lost someone, I am able to better understand what has truly been lost and better able to tell their stories to the jury.

4. It has made me more passionate about what I do. I am inspired to be an example for my girls. I also feel a sense of obligation to do the most that I can to make the world a little better, a little safer, a little fairer.

5. It helps me put my clients’ needs first. Sometimes lawyers make cases about themselves. It becomes the lawyer’s win. But I see my cases as my clients’ cases. It is their story, not mine. While I advise them, ultimately, they make the decisions about their cases. This is something I learned from having children. It is just not about me.

I have represented a lot of moms in both their own claims or claims they brought for their child who was harmed by another. Moms from all walks of life. I have witnessed time and again the enduring love of motherhood. Moms who have spent months in hospitals with their children. Moms working two jobs to put food on the table but who have still managed to make it to every basketball game. Moms who have stood up for their children through cases lasting years or through defense attorneys taking shots at them. Moms showing unbelievable strength, courage and most of all, love for their children.

This last year is the first time I have ever heard the phrase “There is no such thing as other people’s children.” Nothing has ever resonated with me as much as this statement. I want this to be the motto of my life. We should care about all children as if they were our own.

From my mom and being a mom, and from all the moms I have known, I have learned to be courageous, tenacious and compassionate—to lawyer like a mother.

Happy Mother’s Day!

The Water Crisis in Flint and Why We Must do More to Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning

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While many Iowan's likely have followed the story of the lead-tainted water in Flint, most people probably think that lead poisoning is an isolated problem only impacting the children of Flint. The truth, however, is that Iowa's children are lead poisoned at a higher rate than the national average and the failures in Flint, highlight a widespread problem that many people know nothing about, but that is entirely preventable. 

Flint, Michigan is a city with a population under 100,000 where over 41% live below the poverty line.  In 2015, multiple studies found that Flint's water supply was contaminated with lead as a result of various cost-saving measures previously taken by the City and that incidents of lead poisoning in Flint had increased dramatically. The investigation into the contaminated water found negligence and even criminal conduct on behalf of a number of public employees and has resulted in numerous lawsuits and prosecutions. The disaster in Flint has called attention to a nationwide health crisis—childhood lead poisoning—that is often overlooked because most of the children impacted are poor.

Lead poisoning is particularly devastating because it causes permanent brain damage in young children. It is heartbreaking that a poisoning that a child suffers at the age of one or two can impact that child for the rest of their lives. I have represented children who suffered such severe brain damage that they will never be able to live independently. Particularly scary is that children often display no visible symptoms of lead poisoning.

Unlike Flint, most Iowa children who are poisoned are exposed to lead paint and not contaminated water.  Homes built before 1950 likely contain lead-based paint. While many impoverished children live in homes built before 1950, lead poisoning is not unavoidable—it is completely preventable. Lead paint that is kept in good condition is usually not a hazard to small children, who become poisoned through paint chips and paint dust. So, who is responsible and who is failing these children? In most cases, it is negligent landlords.

While many Iowa parents do not know about lead poisoning, most Iowa landlords do. Landlords are required to provide certain information to tenants regarding the risk of lead poisoning.  Most landlords know that chipping and peeling paint causes childhood lead poisoning. Additionally, the law requires that landlords keep their properties in a safe condition, including keeping their properties free from lead hazards. Some cities, like Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, even have specific provisions in the City Code that require landlords to keep their properties lead safe. 

So why are Iowa's children still becoming lead poisoned at such a high rate? One big reason is that landlords are not doing their jobs. This failure often goes undetected because many of the families and children impacted by lead poisoning are poor. But the injustice of robbing a child of his or her potential by simply failing to keep a property in good repair is no less great for poor children. If the water crisis in Flint has taught us anything, it is that every child deserves to grow up healthy and that the adults who fail those children should be held accountable.  

“The biggest tragedy to me having supervised the treatment of over 25,000 lead poisoned children is the fact that the child’s life is gone. It is wrecked forever, as early as one or two years of age and there’s no recovery.”

— Dr. John Rosen

If your child has been lead poisoned and you would like more information about holding your landlord accountable, call us at (319) 826-2250.