New Mexico Legal Issues Blog

Lyft pulls ride share bikes from service

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Product Liability on Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

The ride-hailing company Lyft has recently gotten into the business of bicycles. This occurred after the company purchased Motivate, which is the largest bike share operator in the U.S. Unfortunately, Lyft has gotten more than it bargained for, and now pulled 3,000 bikes from the New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco markets after reports that the front brake of the company's pedal-assist e-bikes were responding more strongly than expected. This led to some customers going over the bike's handlebars and causing injury, including dozens of reported injuries in New York City. Top speed of these e-bikes is 18 miles per hour

Lyft wrote in a letter to customers on its bike share websites: "Out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively removing the pedal-assist bikes from service for the time being."

New Mexico Ranks High in Motor Vehicle Fatalities

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Tuesday, April 9, 2019.

The final numbers for motor vehicle accidents in 2018 have come in. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), an estimated 40,000 people lost their lives due to motor vehicle crashes here in the United States. This is an astronomical number, but it is lower than recent decades thanks to improvements in safety features, stricter guidelines for driving under the influence and other regulations.

Some will likely be surprised to find New Mexico on this list, but the number of fatalities for the NSC ranking is based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 drivers. The other top states are Mississippi (21.2 fatalities), South Carolina (20.34), Alabama (19.39) and Wyoming (19.21).

Parents campaign to make semi-trailer trucks safer

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA on Tuesday, April 9, 2019.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - He loved his mom and all that but, well, he was a teenager now and being kissed good night by her just wasn't in keeping with his advanced age.

His mom didn't buy that.

"When he started saying he didn't want my good-night kiss, I told him, 'You never know when it might be the last time,' " Wendy Hein said. "So that became our thing. Every night he would give me a kiss. 'Besos y abrazos,' he'd say. Hugs and kisses."

Bayer faces pressure after Roundup decision

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA on Tuesday, April 2, 2019.

Germany’s Bayer is under increasing pressure after a second jury found weed killer Roundup causes cancer.

Bayer purchased longtime Roundup manufacturer Monsanto for $63 billion last year.

Families of underride victims take crash tests to Capitol Hill

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Wrongful Death on Thursday, March 28, 2019.

Families of people who have died in underride collisions gathered Tuesday, March 26, 2019 in Washington, D.C. to observe a series of crash tests demonstrating the effectiveness of side underride guards. An underride collision is one in which, because of the mismatch in height between a semitrailer and a passenger car, a portion of the passenger car slides underneath the semitrailer, often resulting in the semitrailer crashing into the "survival space" of the passenger car and killing people in the car.

The workplace can be more dangerous for women

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Civil Rights on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

It is coming to the end of Women's History Month. We couldn't let it pass without one post about women in the workplace. The National Safety Council recently released its analysis of data from 2017. It found a number of areas where the likelihood of injury to women workers was disproportionately high.

Women more likely to be assaulted

Were your child’s products recalled in the past two months?

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

In March, 2019 the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled dozens of products and many of them could be within your child’s reach. Unfortunately, children’s toys are in high demand which often causes manufacturers to make dangerous shortcuts to make a deadline or a bottom line.

When manufacturers put their profits above your child’s safety, they break the law. The CPSC releases recalls to defective products for your safety and that of your child.

Volvo takes bold safety steps

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Friday, March 22, 2019.

The famously safety-conscious Volvo is best known for making vehicles that protect their occupants from injury. However, the Sweden-based vehicle manufacturer will soon use 21st-century technology to protect drivers whether they like it or not.

The manufacturer will use onboard cameras to monitor the eye movements of the driver as well as sensors to ensure that hands remain on the steering wheel. The idea is that the car or truck will gauge if the driver is taking their eyes off the road to look at a device or displays symptoms of driving while drowsy. The camera will also measure to see if the driver is too intoxicated to safely operate their vehicle.

Honda recalls one million vehicles

On behalf of McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA posted in Product Liability on Monday, March 18, 2019.

The Honda Motor Company has announced that it will recall 1.1 million Honda and Acura vehicles because of faulty air bag inflators. This is now the largest motor vehicle recall in history. Not to be confused with an earlier recall involving Takata airbags, this new recall involves the replacements of the previous recall in 2015, which involved propellant that could became unstable and explode upon impact. This led to the deaths of an estimated 220 or more people worldwide, including a dozen here in the U.S.

A new incident in January prompts recalls

Bipartisan bills could require trucks to install underride guards

By McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry, PA on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.

Large commercial trucks can pose a serious danger to smaller passenger vehicles. Because of their size, they tend to cause severe autobody damage or inflict personal injuries to the other parties in a crash. In some instances, a small car may even slide underneath the side or front of a tractor-trailer, leading to catastrophic injuries or fatalities.

A bipartisan bill aims to prevent injuries and deaths from accidents in which cars slide under semi-trucks or trailers. The bill, known as the Stop Underrides Act, introduced recently in the U.S. Senate with an identical bill in the House, would require tractors and trailers to be equipped with front and side underride guards. The measures' opponents argue that this would be a costly and unnecessary restriction for the trucking and trailer manufacturing industry. Advocates, however, say that it could save lives.