Product Liability Success Stories for CP&R Clients

The Case of the Defective Child Car Seat

In this case, our firm represented a family whose child suffered a severe brain injury in a motor vehicle accident. Our client was two years old. It was mid-afternoon, and his mother was performing errands and was driving her car on a four-lane road. The child was sitting in a child’s car seat. The car seat was installed per the manufacturer’s instructions, and the mother properly secured her son in the car seat, which was in rear seat directly behind the mother. There were icy road conditions at the time, which caused the car to spin out and leave the lane of travel. The mother’s car was then struck on the driver’s side by an oncoming vehicle that was driving too fast for the conditions. The impact caused the child car seat to break apart and off its restraints. The two-year-old child was flung out of the car seat and across the back seat of the car, where he struck his head on the armrest on the opposite side. He sustained a skull fracture and a brain injury because the child car seat did not maintain its integrity in the crash but instead broke apart in the side impact. Unfortunately, the car that struck our client had little insurance.

We went right to work on this case, preserving evidence, speaking with witnesses, and documenting the crash scene, the car seat, and the vehicles involved in the crash. It was important to determine what forces acted on the child car seat to cause it to break apart in this side impact. We recovered the car seat and sent it for analysis to experts in this field. We assembled a team of experts to reconstruct the accident and to determine why the car seat failed.

Our investigation proved that although this car seat would protect a child in a front or rear impact, it lacked sufficient strength in a side impact to provide protection. In those circumstances, the car seat could break apart and cause severe injury to a child. Through extensive depositions, we learned that the manufacturer did not sufficiently perform testing to determine how the car seat would perform in a side-impact collision. We also proved that there were stronger, more appropriate car seat designs being manufactured and sold by its competitors that would not break apart in a side-impact accident, such as occurred here.

We also assembled an expert medical team to show what this child’s injuries were and how those injuries were going to affect the child for the rest of his life. Although he had made a remarkable recovery, his injuries included permanent intellectual disabilities. Our experts were able to show how his developmental problems were caused by the injuries sustained in the accident. They were also able to show how those problems could manifest later in his life and the cost of his care for those issues moving forward. The multimillion-dollar recovery we obtained for this family enabled them to provide the appropriate care for the life of their child.

The Case of the Contaminated Medical Device

In this instance, our firm brought a product liability case against the manufacturer of a contaminated medical device, which led to our client’s severe, lifelong injuries, and we successfully obtained a substantial financial recovery. Our client underwent cardiac surgery at a hospital where a defective and contaminated medical device was used. This device, intended to regulate body temperature, had been contaminated with a dangerous bacterium (Mycobacterium chimaera or M. chimaera) during production. Through an extensive investigation and discovery, we proved that the product manufacturer was aware of the contamination risk, and that all devices manufactured during a certain period released airborne bacteria into operating rooms, yet the manufacturer failed to disclose this to hospitals or regulators. As a result, patients across the nation, including our client, developed incurable infections.
Following surgery, our client contracted this rare M. chimaera infection, leading to severe endocarditis and multiple strokes that caused permanent cognitive impairments. We arranged genetic testing, which linked the strain of M. chimaera that infected our client to the exact strain found in the product manufacturer’s device, thereby confirming that this device caused the infection.
To prove the case, we presented evidence of the manufacturer’s internal records, which showed it knowingly shipped contaminated devices and misled hospitals about safety. We demonstrated that the manufacturer disregarded reports from multiple hospitals about contamination and failed to implement or advise effective cleaning protocols. Testimony from medical experts and hospital staff established that these failures were responsible for our client’s infection and subsequent injuries.
Our client suffered significant cognitive deficits due to strokes caused by the infection, including aphasia and diminished comprehension, requiring near-constant care. This case illustrates the profound impact of corporate negligence on patient safety and health.

The Case of the Defective Valve

Our firm took on this case to represent a young volunteer firefighter who suffered severe spinal cord injuries that left him paralyzed from the waist down. A defective metal valve that connected a fire hose to a fire truck failed under pressure, which caused the valve end of the pressurized hose to whip around into our client’s back, permanently damaging his spinal cord. The hose struck him hard. The force threw him 10–20 feet in the air. His impact on landing was so hard that it dislocated both knees and fractured his left leg. However, his most life-altering injuries were fractures and dislocations of his spine at the thoracic level, resulting in permanent paralysis.

Not only was it critical for us to obtain and preserve the evidence of the failed valve, but it was also critical to understand why it failed. Collaborating with experts in metallurgy and fire apparatus safety, we proved that this valve was defective, brand new, out of the box. The steel used to manufacture the valve did not meet the required standards and specifications; the valve was weak, and it could not withstand the water pressure. That is why the valve broke apart.

It was vitally important to understand the impact of the SCI our client suffered. He would never walk again; he required bladder and bowel protection because he lost all control and function, and he was at risk of falling, suffering infections, and receiving burns due to his loss of sensation. We collaborated with our client’s physicians and with a specialist in life care to develop a plan for the types of treatment, equipment, and needs tailored to this client’s particular injuries. We were also able to outline the loss of earnings and earning capacity he suffered because of his injuries, as well as the dramatic impact on his relationship with his wife and the changes in their lifestyle resulting from his disability.

After we filed the lawsuit, we conducted an extensive investigation and discovery. Our ability to prove that our client’s injuries were caused by a defective product and through no fault of his own — as well as our experience and understanding of the impact of spinal cord injuries on the patient and his family — were critical to obtaining a substantial multimillion-dollar recovery and fair resolution of this case.

The Case of the Defective Step

In this case, our client sustained a TBI caused by a defectively assembled fire truck product. Our client was a professional firefighter who had served for many years in a small city fire department. The department had just purchased new fire trucks that were delivered a few months before our client was injured. Along with his crew, our client responded to an emergency call using one of the new fire trucks. After the emergency and after performing their duty, they returned to the station. It was our client’s job to stow the firefighting gear in a storage area located on top of the fire truck. To access the storage area, he had to climb up a set of three fold-up steps that went up the side of the truck in the rear. As our client was stepping on the middle step, the steps collapsed. He fell about ten feet onto a concrete floor and struck his head directly on the concrete. Our client sustained a TBI from the fall, which permanently altered his ability to communicate and understand, his vision, and his balance and coordination.

We conducted an immediate investigation at the scene, including an inspection of the fire truck and the fold-down steps. The product defect was clear. The manufacturer of the steps, who supplied them to the fire truck assembler, required that the fold-down steps be connected securely. This was necessary because the normal use of fold-down steps involves significant stress, force, friction, and movement. Indeed, the manufacturer of the steps specified that the bolts securing the steps were to be affixed with lock washers. Unlike a regular washer, a lock washer secures bolts in place. Unfortunately, regular washers and not lock washers were used by the assembler. The result was that the step quickly became loose over a brief period, and when our client stepped onto it to stow gear, the steps collapsed, causing him to strike his head on the concrete floor.

Because of our prompt investigation, we were able to build our case quickly and efficiently. The result was that the defendant admitted its liability, leaving only the question of how much money it was going to pay to compensate our client for his brain injury. We assembled a team of medical experts to prove that the client’s injuries were real and substantial; that they would affect him for the rest of his life; and that the cost of treatment over the course of his lifetime was significant. We were able to negotiate a very substantial multimillion-dollar settlement that made a significant difference in the lives of the injured firefighter and his family.

Ready to learn more about this topic? Read When Traumatic Brain Injury Is Caused by a Defective Product