Recently, Rawlings recalled a catcher’s helmet because it poses the risk of failing to adequately protect the wearer’s head and thus leaves him or her vulnerable to serious head injuries. Although no injuries or incidents had yet been reported, the manufacturer chose to implement a total recall that results in a full refund for helmets over a specific size. This significant move stands in testament to exactly how dangerous defective sports equipment (and resulting head injuries) can be. If a faulty piece of sports equipment leaves you or someone you love injured, don’t delay consulting with an experienced Redding, California, products liability attorney.

The Helmet

The helmet in question is the CHMACH-SR Senior Catchers helmet. These are plastic helmets that were manufactured in the two-tone color combinations of black and white, green and white, navy and white, and red and white (with gray chinstraps). Each helmet is imprinted with Rawlings on the side and the Rawlings’ R logo on the center of the front. The original hangtags read MACH and have the UPC code printed on them. The back plate in these helmets has been deemed an inadequate form of protection for the wearer’s head, and as a result, the helmets were recalled on February 6, 2020. The helmets sold throughout the nation in sporting goods stores and on online venues for about $200 from July 2018 through September 2019.

If the Recall Affects You

If this recall applies to you, you should quit using the helmet immediately and contact Rawlings to request a remedy. If your helmet is for head sizes that are 7.5 and smaller, the company will send you a replacement back-plate for no additional charge, and if your helmet is for head sizes that are above 7.5, Rawlings will send you a full refund. You can contact Rawlings by calling 800-729-5464 between the hours of 7:30 AM and 5 PM Central Time – Monday through Friday, by emailing the company at returns@rawlings.com, or by contacting them online at www.rawlings.com and clicking “Recall” at the bottom of the page.

Baseball: America’s Pastime

Baseball is as American as apple pie, but it also poses some serious risks for players, including head injuries. This is why catchers wear catcher’s helmets, which are specifically designed to help protect their heads from serious head injuries such as concussions and other kinds of traumatic brain injuries. Some of this protective gear, however, doesn’t protect as well as it should and leaves players more vulnerable to serious injuries to the head. Keeping an eye on recalls of sports equipment and online reviews and reports from other users can help keep you abreast of potential defects lurking within your protective sports gear.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Defective sports equipment intended to protect the head often leads to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). TBIs are typically caused by an impact to the head, which safety helmets are designed to shield the wearer from. These injuries are as serious as they are unpredictable, and children who participate in sports are exceedingly vulnerable. The scientific community finds that the long-term effects of TBIs may be especially significant.

Damages Associated with TBIs

If you or your loved one has suffered a serious TBI, the associated damages can be immense, including:

Medical Costs – Your medical expenses can include emergency care and transportation, surgery and follow-up care, treatment from doctors and specialists, therapy, prescription medications, and more.
Lost Pay – A TBI can lead to a significant number of lost hours on the job, and if your injury is serious, it can cause you to suffer a diminished earning capacity into your future – and even an altered career path. Some victims are permanently disabled by these serious injuries.
Pain and Suffering – Because our brains house our personalities, brain injuries can leave their victims in extreme emotional pain. Many sufferers experience depression, increased anxiety, and even an inability to adequately connect with the people in their support systems (when they need them the most).

All told, the damages associated with a serious TBI can be immense and should never be discounted.

Call Us Today to Schedule a Consultation with a Redding Products Liability Attorney

If you’ve been injured by a defective item of sports equipment, the dedicated Redding products liability attorneys at Maire & Deedon are committed to skillfully advocating on behalf of the compensation to which you are entitled. We’re on your side, so please don’t hesitate to contact or call us at 530-246-6050 today.

Proving Workplace Retaliation Can Require the Assistance of an Attorney

If you have been discriminated against or harassed as an employee, there are legal mechanisms in place to protect you from being retaliated against if you come forward with your claim. The fact is, however, that employer retaliation happens, and proving it is often very complicated. If you have been retaliated against at work for complaining about discrimination and/or harassment, you need the professional legal counsel of an experienced Redding, California, employment lawyer on your side.

Retaliation in the Workplace

To prove that you were retaliated against on the job, you must be able to show a clear relationship between your complaint of harassment or discrimination and a negative job action on the part of your employer. The three elements of a successful retaliation case include:

You, as an employee, engaged in an activity that is protected by the law.
Your employer took action against you.
Your action specifically caused your employer to take action against you.

The Protected Activity

The protected activity forwarded in your retaliation claim can be one of two types, including:

An Act of Opposition – If the act for which you are being retaliated against is the act of opposing discrimination, harassment, or retaliation in the workplace, that opposition is legally protected. Not only are employees who complain of such acts protected, but those who bear witness to such acts in internal investigations are also protected. In any incident in which an employee communicates his or her belief that the employer engaged in discriminatory or harassing practices, the employee is generally protected from employer retaliation. This includes an employee who declines to participate in a company policy that is discriminatory, such as a policy not to hire women for top management positions.
An Act of Participation – If you file a charge of discrimination or harassment or otherwise take part in a discrimination or harassment case (as a witness for the person bringing the claim, for example), your act of participation is legally protected from retaliation.

The Retaliation

The negative action that constitutes the retaliation in your case can be any action that has materially adverse effects – if those effects would reasonably deter employees from making a complaint in the first place (or from engaging in otherwise protected activities). The fact is that enforcement of laws that protect against discrimination and harassment is meaningless if employees are afraid to come forward with complaints in the first place. As such, the laws against retaliation are quite broad – in an effort to afford ample protections.

Examples of an employer’s negative actions that can amount to retaliation include:

Firing you
Demoting you
Reducing your salary
Unfairly evaluating you negatively
Transferring you
Altering your job assignment and/or job duties
Disciplining you
Changing your shift
Otherwise changing the terms and conditions of your employment

Retaliation on the job can be swift and obvious, slow and subtle, or anything in between, but retaliation (in any form) is both harmful and illegal and should be addressed.

Causation

Demonstrating that you engaged in a protected activity and that you subsequently experienced a negative action on the job is not enough to prove retaliation. You must be able to prove that the actions in question are connected. If you are, for example, laid off in a planned layoff that is based on company financials that happens to take place after you filed a complaint, you will likely have a very difficult time proving retaliation.

The element of causation – that your protected act caused your employer’s negative action toward you – is likely to be the most complicated component of your case. Unless your employer openly demonstrates a causal relationship by saying that if you complain you’re going to suffer a specific consequence, you’re going to need to prove causation via indirect evidence. Such evidence can be based on any of the following:

Timing of Retaliation – If the retaliation directly follows your complaint, it makes retaliation look that much more probable.
Knowledge of Protected Act – You must be able to show that the party that retaliated against you knew about the protected activity in which you engaged.
Absence of Another Explanation – If you can show that there was no other reason for your employer’s alleged retaliation, your case will be strengthened. Further, if your employer’s explanation for his or her alleged retaliation doesn’t add up, it can also bolster your claim.

Consult with an Experienced Redding, California, Employment Attorney Today

Workplace retaliation claims are complicated, but the dedicated employment attorneys at Maire & Deedon – proudly serving Redding, California – are committed to applying their extensive experience, resources, and knowledge to effect your case’s most positive resolution. We’re here to help, so please don’t hesitate to contact or call us at 530-246-6050 today.

Brain Injury Awareness Month Highlights Risks, Dangers of TBIs0

March was Brain Injury Awareness Month, and brain injury awareness is an exceedingly important topic. The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) has been raising public awareness about brain injuries and for victims of brain injuries for more than 30 years, and their significant work continues. If you’ve suffered a brain injury in an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, consult with an experienced Redding, California, personal injury attorney today.

Change Your Mind

The BIAA’s theme for its 2018 to 2020 brain injury awareness campaign is Change Your Mind, and it serves as a platform for disseminating information about brain injuries and the specific needs of victims of brain injuries, their families, and their extended support systems. The goals of the BIAA’s campaign are threefold and include:

Using their outreach within the brain-injury community to help destigmatize brain injuries
Helping to empower brain-injury survivors and those who help care for them
Further promoting the varied support available to those living with brain injuries

Brain injuries are especially complicated injuries that can upend a survivor’s life in the blink of an eye. Further education on this important topic can help mitigate the lack of support that many survivors face.

Brain Injuries

Brain injuries are as serious as they are unpredictable, which makes these injuries exceedingly complicated to live with. Brain injuries are often referred to as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and they include concussions, which have received a lot of recent press for the overarching negative effects these injuries have on athletes who tend to endure repeated incidences (including young athletes).

Causes of TBIs

The Mayo Clinic shares that TBIs are often caused by a jolt or violent blow to the head or body, such as is common in traffic accidents of all kinds, slip and fall accidents, sports injuries, and accidents on the job (especially falls from elevations on construction sites). While mild TBIs can temporarily affect one’s brain cells, more serious injuries can lead to bruising, bleeding, torn tissues, and other damage to the brain, which can lead to lifelong complications or can even be deadly.

Symptoms of TBIs

Receiving the treatment you need for a Traumatic brain injury can be quite tricky because the associated signs and symptoms can present almost immediately, or they can take up to several days to appear. This makes receiving necessary care in a timely manner less certain. The physical signs and symptoms associated with moderate to severe TBIs include:

A loss of consciousness that can last from several minutes to several hours
Inability to rouse from sleep
Nausea and/or persistent vomiting
A worsening or persistent headache
Seizures or convulsions
Dilation of one or both pupils
Weak or numb fingers and toes
Loss of physical coordination
Clear drainage from the ears or nose

The cognitive or mental symptoms associated with TBIs can include:

Severe confusion
Speech that is slurred
Exhibition of unusual, agitated, or combative behavior
A coma or another form of disordered consciousness

Seek Medical Attention

TBIs are classified as mild, moderate, and severe in order to designate the effect of the injury on the victim’s brain function, but even a mild injury to the brain is a serious injury that necessitates prompt medical attention. If you have suffered a blow to the head or body that is concerning, you owe it to your health and well-being to seek medical attention immediately. The complications associated with TBIs are considerable and can include states of altered consciousness that range from coma to brain death; physical complications such as seizures, infections, severe headaches, nerve damage, and more; and intellectual difficulties. These intellectual issues can lead to changes in one’s ability to think. For example, you may have a hard time focusing and processing your thoughts could take longer than you are used to. In fact, many victims of TBIs share that they suffer an altered sense of self, which is obviously an extraordinary difficult consequence to overcome.

Don’t Delay Consulting with an Experienced Redding, California, Personal Injury Attorney

If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, the dedicated personal injury attorneys at Maire & Deedon are here to help. We have extensive experience helping clients like you obtain the compensation they need to make their fullest recoveries. Your case is important to us, and our experienced legal team is on your side. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact or call us at 530-246-6050 today.