Drop-Side Cribs Outlawed After Multiple Deaths

After millions of recalls and more than 30 infant and toddler deaths, the government outlawed drop-side cribs yesterday.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to ban the manufacture, sale and resale of the cribs, which have a side rail that moves up and down, allowing parents to more easily lift their child from the crib.
The new standard requiring cribs to have fixed sides would take effect in June. The move by CPSC would also prohibit hotels and childcare centers from using drop-sides, though those facilities would have a year to purchase new cribs.
CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said, "I believe these new standards will markedly reduce crib-related hazards and help to ensure that young children sleep more safely in their cribs."
Around for decades, drop-side cribs have come under scrutiny in recent years because of malfunctioning hardware, sometimes cheaper plastics, or assembly problems that can lead to the drop-side rail partially detaching from the crib. When that happens, it can create a dangerous "V"-like gap between the mattress and side rail where a baby can get caught and suffocate or strangle.

Toyota Recalls 2011 Sienna

Toyota’s list of recalls continues to grow. The automaker is voluntarily recalling 94,000 2011 Toyota Sienna minivans. The affected vehicles were produced before early November 2010.

“The recall is a result of a Stop Lamp Switch Bracket placed near the parking brake,” Autoblog explains. “When the parking brake is fully applied it may deform the switch bracket. This could result in the brake lights remaining lit or even partial engagement of the brakes resulting in a reduction of brake effectiveness over time.”

While this recall adds to the millions of vehicles Toyota red flagged in the past year, there is some good news. No accidents, injuries or deaths had resulted from the faulty bracket.

Toyota explains that Sienna owners “will receive an interim notification advising them of this recall by first class mail beginning in mid-January 2011, along with instructions for what to do if they experience this condition and how to minimize the possibility of inadvertently contacting the stop lamp switch bracket while operating the parking brake. Toyota will also post this information on its website.”


Owners will get another notification in February in mid-January 2011. At that time, they can make an appointment at any Toyota dealer to remedy the problem free of charge.

Joseph Messa Nominated to ABF

Joseph Messa has been nominated to become a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). It is an honor to be chosen, as less than one third of one percent of US lawyers are members. ABF members support ground breaking research in law and social science and participate in educational programs at the American Bar Association's (ABA) Midyear and Annual Meetings.
Founded in 1952 by the ABA, the ABF is recognized as the premier institute for social science research on law in America. Among its research faculty is 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences, James Heckman. Other notables include John Hagan (awarded the 2009 Stockholm Prize in Criminology) and Steven Levitt (author of the bestseller Superfreakonomics).