Defective Design

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Corporations that make and sell defective products fail us twice: by putting us at risk for injury or death, and by doing it with full knowledge.

When we buy an SUV, a train ticket to New York, a chair for the patio, a crib for the baby, or any one of thousands of products and services that support our lifestyle, all we see is the person behind the cash register. Invisible to us is the manufacturer’s design process that is supposed to incorporate health and safety standards, anticipate problems, conduct tests, correct design defects, and make sure that nothing goes on the market that will harm consumers.

The role of design in deaths and injuries due to defective products is certainly not invisible to our attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley. In 30 years of advocating for victims and their families, we know the short cuts that unscrupulous manufacturers take to minimize safety measures and maximize profits. We see the tricks they use to hide test results, mask design problems, and wrap their defective products in an enticing and reassuring advertising package.

At Searcy Denney, we are proud of our success in helping victims of defective design find justice. We recovered $950,000 for a man who suffered a herniated disc, followed by a spinal fluid leak and two surgeries, because a defective Rubbermaid chair collapsed. We won a claim of $4.25 million for faulty road design that caused brain injuries, epilepsy, and mental retardation to a four-year-old passenger in a car that went off the road. In a nine-year, headline-generating case against CSX Transportation, we won a verdict of $50 million in punitive damages on behalf of Angela Palank, whose husband was killed when an Amtrak train derailed because of a faulty main line switch.

Many of our most difficult, and most successful, defective design battles have been against major automobile manufacturers who persist in selling SUVs with defective equipment and a propensity to roll over. On behalf of a woman who was left a quadriplegic in a crash of her Ford Explorer, Searcy Denney attorneys presented evidence that a defectively-designed seat and seatback system was at fault. A jury awarded our client $10.4 million. And in another claim against Ford, our attorneys obtained a seven-figure confidential settlement for a family devastated by a Bronco II rollover and roof crush.

As tragic as the injuries and deaths in our defective design cases are, even more tragic is the fact that, in many instances, a corporation’s decision to put profit before public safety was with full knowledge of the lethal dangers their products posed. In the defective road construction case cited above, the road design had been rejected by the county because it did not meet safety requirements. In several of our SUV rollover cases, we were able to demonstrate that auto manufacturers knew well their cars’ propensity to roll over under ordinary driving conditions, yet they failed to design a roll cage or other safety precaution. In the CSX case, our extensive investigation revealed that the faulty main line that caused derailment had been broken for at least seven months. Yet it was not repaired, because – as CSX employees later testified – the company cut corners by demanding that they inspect more track in a shorter amount of time.

Fortunately, there is Federal and state legislation that helps protect us from defective products and supports our right to seek justice when we have been harmed. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, for example, monitors more than 15,000 types of consumer products in its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Defects Investigation responds to crashes and consumer complaints about automobile defects. In February 2010 NHTSA launched an investigation into the brake system and gas pedal problems that prompted Toyota’s “sudden” recall of more than 6 million vehicles. But this is not enough to prevent the tragic consequences of corporate greed. If you or a family member has been injured because of a defectively-designed product, the attorneys at Searcy Denney have the courage to stand up to even the most powerful corporations and their high-paid attorneys. Our law firm has the resources to wage a lengthy battle, and the persistence to pursue every remedy available to you. Please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange a confidential free consultation.