Products Liability Experience
The following case reports reflect the wide range of experience that NZA partners have accomplished in the products liability field. These are a sampling of cases handled by our firm’s partners.
Trucking Manufacturer
In a product liability suit brought against Mack Trucks and their distributor in New Orleans, Louisiana, eight plaintiffs claimed that a faulty leaf spring in the truck’s suspension fractured, causing a fully loaded Mack Truck to cross the center line and collide with a van of workers coming home from work on an offshore oil rig. The accident caused the death of one worker, quadriplegia to another, and a variety of other serious injuries to the remaining six workers. Plaintiff introduced evidence of leaf spring failures in other Mack trucks. We established that the leaf spring fractured as a result of the accident and that driver inattention caused the breach of the center-line. A not-guilty verdict was achieved in a claim that could have resulted in damages in the high eight-figures.
Medical Device Manufacturer
NZA partners defended a French conglomerate and a U.S. medical prosthesis manufacturer for the fracture of a portion of an artificial hip used in joint replacements. The product had been subject to a recall. In this case, filed in Baltimore, the product exploded in the hip of a 39-year-old man, who alleged complete disability for the rest of his life as a result of the failure of the product. The plaintiff’s demand was in excess of $7 million. We recommended that the client to admit liability and try the case on damages. A jury returned a verdict of only $183,000, essentially the amount we recommended to it, at the end of the trial.
On another occasion, we have defended an international company for the failure of its machines to adequately sterilize with radiation medical products, including hypodermic needles, thus resulting in claims of millions of dollars in destroyed products and business interruption.
Juvenile Products/Furniture
Our client in this case was a manufacturer of children’s furniture. This case asserted that the death of an infant was caused by a juvenile furniture, which had been subject to a recall. We undertook the defense of the case while it was pending and developed defenses, leading to a confidential, but favorable, settlement on the first day of trial. We were able to establish evidence of misuse and develop scientific evidence which created doubt concerning the plaintiff’s claim as to how the product failed. We also developed defenses to a negligent recall claim.
In another case, we defended a manufacturer of a portable child car seat, which plaintiff asserted failed in an auto accident, resulting in a brain injury to the child. After a vigorous defense, we ultimately resolved the case in the low six-figures.
Household Appliances
Our partners have successfully represented a Japanese company in a product liability claim, in which it was asserted that a fire in a wealthy home began within the power cord and circuitry of a projection television. We proved that fire could not have started in the television, but most likely was the result of arson. On other occasions, we defended an outbreak of fires allegedly caused by a defect in house fans manufactured by a large Chinese appliance manufacturer.
Fire Suppression
We have defended a large manufacturer of smoke detection and fire suppression devices in cases involving carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, resulting in dismissals and favorable settlements.
Automotive
NZA lawyers have defended tire manufacturers throughout the U.S. in products liability lawsuits. We have taken over litigation, and, by doing so, rescued our clients from disastrous rulings of default, as well as poor trial strategy. One case pending in Los Angeles involved the death of four passengers. One in Texas involved the death of a child and serious injury to four others. One case in Florida involved death and serious personal injury.
Technology
Our firm’s partners have defended and prosecuted cases involving technology companies in many different products liability actions, including hardware, software, chip manufacturing and power systems.
Hydraulics
We represented the manufacturer of the hydraulic line component used for room extenders in high end recreational vehicles/mobile homes. The manufacturer sued after unexplained leakage of hydraulic fluid forced a recall of mobile homes. We defended the case by establishing that leakage was caused by over-insertion of the hoses during assembly. We obtained a very favorable settlement with the mobile home manufacturer, establishing contracts for future business between the defendant and plaintiff. We have also represented other manufacturers of hoses, lines, pipes and cylinders.
Manufacturing
We have represented the manufacturers of punch presses and suppliers of electrical power to those presses in various lawsuits. These lawsuits often result in amputations or gross disfigurement. NZA partners have also represented several international industrial manufacturing clients.
Lighting
NZA lawyers have defended a large lighting manufacturer for claims alleging that a fire started in a fluorescent lamp, causing the death of six people. We have shown through scientific evidence that the fire could not have started the way the various plaintiffs and co-defendants claim. We have also represented manufacturers of transformers, busbars, and other electronic equipment.
Cranes/Scaffolding/Construction Equipment
Our partners have been involved in some of the largest cases involving tower cranes and scaffolding product cases in the country. These include representing the target defendant in the John Hancock Building scaffolding collapse cases, which resulted in the deaths, catastrophic injuries and property damage to a number of parties, representing many millions of dollars in claims.
Bicycles and Motorcycles
NZA lawyers have represented bicycle parts manufacturers in various cases. In one case involving a claim of quadriplegia after our client’s front tire fork fracture, we were able to show through experts that the fracture was the result, not the cause, of the accident. We successfully persuaded the plaintiff’s attorneys to refrain from suing our client. We have defended various bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers from tire and frame claims.
Pharmaceuticals
We have defended generic drug manufacturers and pharmaceutical research companies in various claims involving their products. We have been successful in obtaining dismissals and favorable settlements from these cases. In one case, we obtained a settlement from the plaintiff where the plaintiff paid our client, after claiming that the plaintiff was owed hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits.
Elevator Equipment
NZA partners successfully defended a case in which an elevator maintenance man amputated both hands while performing maintenance on the elevator. We were able to show that the accident was due to plaintiff’s error in cleaning the wire rope attached to the elevator while the elevator was moving.
Electrical Products
Our attorneys were called in to take over a case set for trial three weeks from the date of the assignment. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the estates of four minors, one 18-year-old and three infants, claiming wrongful death as a result of a fire caused by a faulty extension cord. We turned down an offer from plaintiff’s counsel to postpone the trial and aggressively got the case ready. Jury verdict exposure had been estimated to be in the $20-30 million range. Several days before trial, plaintiff’s attorney called to try to settle the case, which ultimately resolved with our client paying less than $500,000.
Packaging
We have represented the manufacturer of electrical products, when the packaging of the product failed to contain coiled metal in the package, thus causing blindness to the plaintiff.
We successfully defended a farming implement manufacturer when its packaging came apart while being transported on a flat-bed truck, causing part of the device to strike the head of an oncoming driver on a highway in rural North Dakota.
Food
Our attorneys have defended food suppliers, distributors, restaurants, and supermarkets in food adulteration cases. We have experience in defending clients in large outbreaks of salmonella and e. coli contaminations. One such collection of cases involved a salmonella outbreak across the country by a manufacturer of ice cream. We were instrumental in resolving many of these individual cases and class actions cost-effectively.
Protective Equipment
Our firm has successfully defended manufacturers of many types of safety gear, including helmets, harnesses, wires, and lines. We were successful in defending against a products claim against a harness manufacturer for injuries and death after a worker fell well over 1,000 feet from near the top of a television
Recalls
We have assisted in recalls and recovery of recall costs. We have counseled multinational companies in connection with a variety of consumer products that were subject to recalls. NZA lawyers have defended negligent recall claims. Additionally, we successfully obtained reimbursement for our client’s recall costs as the result of a component part manufacturer’s failure to properly heat treat their component, which eventually was used in truck transmissions. Our firm successfully obtained reimbursement of recall costs for our client when bolts applied to large mining vehicles being used across the world began to fail and cause damage to these expensive vehicles.