Airbags are an important part of the safety equipment in modern cars, but when they don’t work correctly serious injuries can result. Maine lawyers who speak to clients injured in automobiles should have a basic knowledge of airbag claims because there are some cases in which pursuing a product liability remedy may be the only way to fully and properly protect the client....
Law Articles
Black ice, moose in the road, and driver error are often accepted as adequate and final explanations for terrible injuries suffered in one car accidents. This is unfortunate and unnecessary, because passengers, including the drivers, in these events may be entitled to tort damages. Lawyers who have the chance to consult with victims of single vehicle events should consider three approaches to defect analysis which can lead to successful product liability claims....
Here are the first few minutes of a recent expert deposition:Defense counsel: For your convenience, we have made a set of photocopies of the expert’s file materials. They are there in that pile in front of you on the table. We wanted you to have them.Plaintiff’s counsel: Thank you.Q: Mr. Jones, in looking at the pile of photocopies, I do not see any deposition transcripts from the case. Have you seen any of the transcripts?...
Employer Immunity...
With the high number of ladder related injuries every year, a lawyer needs to be able to advise a victim about their chances of success in a products liability case. While there is a high frequency and severity of injuries suffered by ladder users, there is not much literature availabe about ladder injury cases. Nevertheless there are questions which need exploring to ensure a satisfactory outcome....
A rollover car products liability case presents many challenges including looking at contributing factors including weather, road conditions and driver error. Accident reconstruction specialists may be needed. Are there claims for negligent driving in addition to the car product liability?...
On January 15, 1919, an iron tank burst in Boston, and two million gallons of molasses flowed into the street. The tank, fifty feet high and ninety feet in diameter, failed with explosive force killing twenty-one people, injuring forty more. Horses were stuck in the molasses and were drowned. Nearby buildings were crushed and destroyed. The failure precipitated a trial to determine whether its cause was structural failure (covered by insurance) or the result of a bomb placed by political activists....
The Toyota recall related to sudden acceleration problems is further evidence of the limits of the power of government to regulate big business. According to a recent New York Times story, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration conducted six different investigations into complaints of sudden and unexpected acceleration and closed them all with no action. It accepted Toyota's superficial explanation for the problems, and refused requests to pursue a further investigation....
SummaryDiscovery is the great and the only leveler of the playing field in products liability cases. Plaintiffs' lawyers owe it to their clients to know the rules and to use them to gain access to facts which are both known to the defense and capable of supporting plaintiffs' defect arguments....
The social and political values reflected in the "Click It or Ticket" seat belt safety campaign provide a powerful backdrop for the plaintiff's case....
Robert Gratzinger is an expert witness who regularly testifies for the defense in automobile defect litigation. In 2002, in the middle of a trial, he intentionally destroyed critical evidence. According to the trial judge, he and his client, American Honda, were trying to “win by cheating.”...
The first challenge for a lawyer listening to a client's description of a possible case is to answer the question, "How did the product contribute to the injury?"The two cases described below, both involving electrical defects, demonstrate the utility of the rules of safe design as a starting point in understanding a products case....
There is nothing more important in a product liability case than getting the expert testimony to come out right. Succeeding in this effort requires finding an expert whose opinion has substance, who has excellent presentation skills, and who is high on the credibility and likeability scales. Even with all of those qualities in an expert, however, the lawyer’s work is not done. The client will not have a good result unless counsel makes the right decisions about the cost of putting the case together, the flow of information to and from the expert, and the timing of expert disclosures....
Vehicle design is of major interest to both those buying a new automobile and those investigating crashworthiness issues. The common elements in crashworthiness cases are the assumptions that collisions are inevitable, and vehicles should be designed to minimize resulting injuries....
Learn more about medical malpractice and/or failure to diagnose ...
Cholecystectomy is the removal of the gallbladder and is usually performed because a patient is suffering from symptoms caused by an inflamed or infected gallbladder. Most cholecystectomies are completed laparoscopically (“lap chole”). To access the gallbladder during a lap chole, the surgeon places instruments through several small incisions and views the surgical field via a video camera. The surgeon then carefully removes the gallbladder from its attachment to the liver, clips and transects the cystic duct and artery, and removes the gallbladder through one of the incisions....
As late as 1998, some legal scholars were still warning against the use of "computerized ‘razzle-dazzle’ [which could be]... used to Disney-up the evidence."1Now there is a manual, Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: Judge’s Guide To Pretrial and Trial, published by the Federal Judicial Center and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy,2 which offers a guide to common objections that courtroom technology has raised thus far....
It should never hurt to be a spouse, child, sibling, or partner. The simple truth is, “there is no excuse for domestic violence.”Domestic or spousal abuse claims are one of the most challenging areas of tort law. Typical hurdles to pursuing these claims include factual disputes over an incident of physical violence, “she hit me first” accusations of being a co-batterer, lack of insurance coverage under homeowner’s policies, finding non-exempt assets to satisfy a judgment, and causation—particularly for emotional distress damages....
Representing clients under the age of 18 in civil litigation involves more resources and more procedural steps than representing adults. Intake and client management procedures used in working with adults are not good enough when attorneys are called upon to protect the interests of a child. To get the best possible result for a child, and to avoid trouble, special attention and a customized approach are necessary....
When a personal injury client’s medical bills are or may be paid by MaineCare, counsel must keep in mind the dual and sometimes conflicting goals of protecting the client’s eligibility for MaineCare insurance and maximizing the client’s cash recovery from the case. Succeeding in this endeavor will invariably require careful attention to a unique set of issues and problems, beginning at the very first meeting with the client....