Recently in Products Liability and Recalls Category

PepsiCo offered an interesting defense to the mouse in Mountain Dew lawsuit -- their products are so bad for you that the acids in the soda would have dissolved the mouse into nothing before the consumer could have possibly opened the can of soda and found the dead mouse inside.

Roland Ball said he purchased a Mountain Dew from a vending machine and began to drink the can when he "tasted something foul" and spit out the soda, reports KSL TV. Ball said he poured the contents of the can into a Styrofoam cup and discovered the remains of a mouse.

Drug manufacturer Novartis triggered a sweeping recall of some of the company’s over-the-counter drugs due to manufacturing problems that may have led to powerful prescription drugs like Percocet being mixed in with common over-the-counter medications like Excedrin, Gas-X, NoDoz, and Bufferin.

The Novartis recall involves Excedrin and NoDoz made with the expiration dates of December 20, 2014 and Bufferin and Gas-X made with the expiration dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, reports the Associated Press.

As the snow and ice starts to hit the Chicago-area, people shoveling their driveways, removing said snow and ice, and even spreading salt should be aware of the dangers of these tasks.

A salt spreading death was reported earlier this week in Hanover Township. Tim Pittas was killed when he fell on a salt spreading tool, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The 26-year-old suburban man worked for his family business that provided professional snow removal services and he was apparently removing pavement salt from a truck when he fell onto an ice augar.

Unfortunately, baby products are some of the most dangerous products that you can buy. Combine shoddily built goods with an infant’s curiosity, and you get a recipe for disaster.

In Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s annual Safe Shopping Guide, the AG highlighted several baby product recalls. These include the following:

In her annual Safe Shopping Guide, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released pictures and descriptions of the 91 children's products recalled between January 1, 2011 and October 31, 2011.

While Illinois retailers were required to remove these products from store shelves, those hunting for holiday bargains may still find these dangerous items on the Internet, in second-hand stores, and through other outlets. For this reason, Madigan urged shoppers to double check that the products they buy for their children are safe.

A $43 million Ford lawsuit has been reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court.

In 2003, John and Dora Jablonski got into a somewhat routine traffic accident. However, allegedly due to the design of their car, the car blew up killing John Jablonski and seriously disfiguring his wife.

But despite the defect, the high court of Illinois said that Ford Motor Co. did not have to pay, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Why?

It's official, the Chicago crib bumper pad ban is in effect. The City of Chicago became the first city in the country to ban the sale of the popular item citing bumper dangers like suffocation.

Crib bumper pads have gained immense popularity in recent years. Many high-end retailers sell the padded lining for cribs that are often decorated with little cartoon characters and bright colors to give even greater cuteness to where your cute baby sleeps.

In a lawsuit filed in Cook County, a woman sued Premier Care in Bathing after she was stuck in one of the company’s bathtubs for 30 hours. Anne Cullen, of Western Illinois, says that she became wedged in the company’s walk-in tubs and needed to be saved by her daughter over a day later.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cullen paid $12,000 for the bathtub which she only ended up using twice. Cullen claims that in September 2010, she stepped into the tub and as it was filling with water she somehow became wedged in the front of the tub.

In the latest Illinois recall, the Agricultural Department and Minnesota meat-manufacturer Cargill announced a recall of 36 million pounds of Cargill turkey after one person was killed and dozens injured from eating the company’s ground turkey.

According to the Associated Press, Cargill is recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company’s Springdale, Arkansas, plant from February 20 through August 2, due to concerns that the meat was tainted with salmonella. The recall is one of the largest ever and was announced after a person in California died and 76 people nationwide became ill after eating the meat.

Is there nothing safe left to eat? One week after Mexican papayas were recalled, it is being reported that a person apparently died of salmonella food poisoning after eating ground turkey.

According to the Chicago Tribune, federal officials are investigating the incident and have not yet issued a recall (unlike with the papayas), but ground turkey salmonella food poisoning appears to have caused the death as well as several illnesses nationwide.

Seventy-six people in 26 states have become ill with the same strain of salmonella; including, several cases in Illinois, reports the Tribune. The CDC has not identified the person who died nor has the agency released any information relating to the source of the ground turkey.