Personal Injury

Whether the accident was caused by reckless driving, mechanical error, and/or alcohol, you need a lawyer that understands insurance companies, can navigate liability insurance, personal injury protection, medical pay, uninsured, and underinsured motorist coverage. You may be able to receive compensation, not only for property damage, but for medical costs, lost wages, future losses, impairment, disfigurement, pain and suffering and other damages. If you have been seriously injured in an accident, it is important that you contact an attorney so you fully understand your rights before proceeding with a claim.

If you have been injured in an automobile accident and have additional questions about your rights, contact the Law Office of Myles Porter to consult with an accident lawyer about your case.

Drugs and Medical Devices
The Law Office of Myles Porter is investigating cases involving DePuy Orthopaedic’s ASR metal-on-metal hip replacement products. DePuy Orthopaedic’s ASR metal-on-metal hip replacement products were recalled by the manufacturer on August 24, 2010. Friction between the metal components generated debris that caused soft tissue damage and other complications in some patients. If you received an ASR hip implant and were advised by your doctor that it must be removed please contact our office.

The Law Office of Myles Porter is investigating cases involving the acne drug Accuatane. If you took Accutane and developed the irritable bowel disease (IBD) ulcerative colitis, please contact our office.

The Law Office of Myles Porter is investigating cases involving birth control pills marketed as Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella by Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals. If you took Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella and later developed gallstones, blood clots, pulmonary embolism, heart attack or stroke, please contact our office.

Child Safety Seat Injuries
Properly installed vehicle child restraints are more than 70 percent effective in preventing serious injury and death. However, as many as 80 percent of these seats are not properly installed, or worse, are defectively designed or manufactured.

Such defective designs cause thousands of deaths and serious head, brain, and spinal cord injuries each year. If your child has been injured because of a defective child restraint, contact the Law Office of Myles Porter immediately to speak to an accident attorney.

Asbestos Injuries
Persons exposed to asbestos at work have developed several types of life-threatening diseases, including mesothelioma and lung cancer. Although the use of asbestos and asbestos products has dramatically decreased, they are still found in many residential and commercial settings where they continue to pose a health risk to workers and others.

Key Points about Asbestos
Exposure to asbestos may increase the risk of asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other cancers.
Smokers who are also exposed to asbestos have a greatly increased risk of lung cancer.
Individuals who have been exposed (or suspect they have been exposed) to asbestos fibers on the job or at home via a family contact should inform their physician of their exposure history and any symptoms, in addition to contacting a licensed injury attorney immediately.

Asbestos Related Sickness
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer; a tumor that affects the mesothelial cells, usually affecting the heart, lungs or abdominal organs.

The most common type of mesothelioma is that which affect the pleura, which is a thin membrane between the lungs and the chest cavity. A peritoneal mesothelioma is another form of this disease, affecting the peritoneum membrane of the abdomen. These tumors also can be found in the stomach and abdominal organs.

Like other cancers, mesothelioma can be both malignant and benign, although the most common is the malignant form. It is a fast-spreading disease and the life expectancy of mesothelioma victims is not long – usually between four months and two years.

If you have been exposed to asbestos contact injury lawyer Myles Porter to defend your rights.

Tire Failure

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found there are more than 8,000 traffic accidents every year resulting in death or serious injuries due to tire failure. While some tire failures can be caused by driver errors, others are the direct result of manufacturing or design defects. Some tire manufacturers have known about tire dangers for years but have failed to properly warn consumers of the risks.

Tread Separation Failure

There are several different types of tire failures. One of the most common is tread separation. Tread separation is the result of the plies of a tire separating from one another. Tires are built from different layers that are exposed to high temperatures and pressure to bond the layers. Steel belts are sometimes incorporated for more impact and puncture resistance. Unfortunately, steel belts do not stick to rubber compounds properly unless manufacturers use a special coating before putting them into tires. The difference in steel and rubber makes tread separation possible in all steel-belted radial tires. The risk of tread separation becomes greater as vehicle speed increases.

Currently, many light truck and passenger vehicle tires do not use existing technology designed to prevent tread separation. Many manufacturers have ignored this technology because of the additional costs.

Another type of tire failure can occur when repairing multi-piece wheels and rims. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has tried to ban multi-piece rims, but the tire and wheel industries have been able to avoid the ban. Single piece wheels have been around for decades, yet many dangerous multi-piece rims are still on the market. OSHA guidelines require employers to provide safety cage for employee use during tire mounting operations, but accidents still happen.

When tires are being inflated, the sidewall of the tire can explode, causing what is called a “sidewall zipper failure”. Sidewall zipper failures are the result of sidewall design and manufacturing. Additionally, deflating a tire can add stress when the tire is re-inflated, sometimes causing blowouts.

Manufacturers typically handle this type of tire failure by issuing warnings instead of changing tire designs.

Another dangerous type of tire failures are “bead fractures,” which occur during the inflation of the tire. When combined with low-pressure explosions, bead fractures can cause rims and the tires to be thrown off with great force, causing severed limbs, brain trauma, and facial injuries.

There are also high-speed spin-off failures, which occur when one of the two rear wheels is stationary and the other wheel spins without restraint due to a design defect.

Ozone cracking is an uncommon tire failure where small cracks on the tire.s surface break down sidewalls. Manufacturing defects are normally to blame in cases of ozone cracking.

Tire failures can be prevented with proper maintenance, but in some cases are hard to detect because of a manufacturing or design flaws. By knowing what to look for, you may be able to prevent unnecessary injuries. Tire failure warning signs:

Cracks in the sidewalls
Tire vibration, indicating a misalignment, etc.
Tread is unevenly worn down, indicating improper inflation, etc.
Tread is very worn down
Sidewall has bugles, indicating weakened areas
Tread Separations
Tread separations result because of the steel belted radial tire technology. When a tread belt separation occurs it often leads to a tire blowout. Tread separations cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle, even when the tire does not lose pressure. Tread separations have been found to be especially dangerous when occurring on Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV), often causing serious injuries and deaths.

Tread separations can occur due to the manufacturing process, including:

Improper repairs
Using over aged dry stock
Missing warning signs during final inspections
Using petroleum solvent before vulcanization
Curing moisture into the tire
An October 2001 report from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said that tread separations studied in Bridgestone and Firestone accidents reduced the ability of drivers to control vehicles, especially when tire failures occurred on rear tires and at high speeds. There was a much greater likelihood for death, injury, and crashes resulting when the tread separation occurred on an SUV rather than a pickup truck.