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Domestic and foreign auto manufacturers have a duty to the citizens of California to design and manufacture safe vehicles – which includes vehicles that protect occupants in crashes. This means that all vehicles must be designed to be safe in foreseeable collisions and accidents. Automobiles must be designed to protect their occupants. This requirement is known as "crashworthiness. Our San Francisco, California auto defect attorneys have handled cases involving all of the following:
| Seat Belts Airbags Glass Accelerators | Seat Backs Tires SUV Rollovers Brakes |
When a car does not perform as safely as an ordinary consumer or user expects, and the occupant is hurt, not by the collision itself, but because of a design flaw in the vehicle, the manufacturer is liable for any increased or enhanced damages that occur.
Through the years, our San Francisco, California auto defect lawyers have successfully handled cases against foreign and domestic auto manufacturers who have failed to produce and sell crashworthy cars, trucks and SUV's.
In recent years, we have represented consumers injured because their vehicle did not maintain its integrity during a rollover, its roof collapsed, its seat belts spooled out, or its brakes failed, or tire treads separated.
In every automobile accident where there is serious injury, it is critical that your attorneys review the facts of the case, and where necessary consult skilled automotive engineers, to determine whether any design or manufacturing defect in a vehicle enhanced or worsened the injuries.
If you are in an accident and your injuries were exacerbated or worsened because of the failure of vehicle safety components, you have a product liability claim in addition to an automobile claim. Our California auto defect attorneys are skilled and experienced in the prosecution and investigation of these claims. When our attorneys undertake an automobile collision case, we investigate the case including the potential for automobile product liability.
EXAMPLES OF OUR SUCCESS
Death of husband and father - mismatched car and trailer - $5,250,000 settlement
Our San Francisco product liability lawyers negotiated a cash and annuity settlement having a present value of $5,250,000 on behalf of the surviving widow and two minor children of a 42-year-old fire captain who was killed when his SUV rolled over on Highway 50 while pulling an "Ultralight" travel trailer. Plaintiffs claimed that the defendant motor home retailer inappropriately sold the family a trailer which was too large to be safely pulled by their small SUV. Plaintiffs also claimed that the retailer failed to advise them that if the travel trailer were loaded to its maximum capacity (as specified by the trailer manufacturer) the trailer would weight 1,400 pounds more than the maximum weight recommended by the SUV manufacturer. While traveling on Highway 50, passing a semi-truck, the trailer was hit by a gust of wind causing it to fishtail, go out of control, and roll over, pulling the towing SUV with it. Defendants claimed that had the decedent read the owner's manual for his vehicle and the trailer he would have observed warnings in both manuals regarding overloading, and, by weighing the vehicles he could have avoided the situation which produced his death. The settlement was reached after three mediations.
Defective Seat Belt - $5,769,000 Jury Verdict
Our California defective seat belt litigation attorneys successfully obtained a jury verdict against American Honda Motor Company for injuries and death sustained by a husband and father of three who expired after sustaining massive chest injuries when involved in a modest speed collision in a Honda Civic. At an impact speed estimated to be approximately 30 miles per hour, and while wearing his seat belt, the decedent moved forward into his steering wheel, fracturing ribs, rupturing his spleen, and puncturing his lungs. Because of lack of oxygen, he sustained serious brain damage, which ultimately caused his death.
Our California product liability lawyers obtained this verdict in Los Angeles County Superior Court, after a 4 week trial. They demonstrated that the seat belt design and configuration in the Honda Civic did not adequately protect our client in a foreseeable, modest speed collision. Utilizing experts in automotive engineering and automobile design, they demonstrated for the jury how the injury could have been avoided had the vehicle been design in a safer manner. Prior to verdict, Honda offered $25,000 in settlement of the case.
SUV Rollover -- $2,900,000 Settlement
Our San Francisco, California vehicle stability team negotiated a settlement in the amount of $2,900,000 against the makers of the Chevrolet Blazer for the surviving husband of a woman who was killed when her Blazer overturned in a single car Northern California accident. Our client's wife was driving to work when she inadvertently left the road surface, and in the process of correcting back onto the roadway, she overcorrected and her vehicle overturned. During the three rolls which followed, the roof collapsed and she sustained fatal head injuries. Our attorneys demonstrated that the vehicle, as designed, was not sufficiently stable to protect drivers who found themselves in foreseeable and expected emergency driving maneuvers. The settlement was paid both in cash and in annuities. Under the terms of the court approved annuities, the woman's surviving son will be provided periodic payments to cover the cost of high school and college, and to provide security to him as a young adult.
Seat Back Failure - $1,500,000 Settlement
We represented a woman who was paralyzed in a high-speed rear-end collision. After being struck by a drunk driver, her driver's side seat collapsed, causing a lumbar vertebra rupture and lower extremity paralysis. Our vehicle defect team, working in association with automobile design engineers and reconstruction engineers, were able to demonstrate that the driver's side seat, as designed, could not withstand normal and expected forces that happen in rear-end collisions. The manufacturer claimed that the seat, as designed, complied with all government requirements and specifications. The settlement was negotiated two weeks before trial, and included repayment of past medical bills, reimbursement of future wage loss, and the establishment of annuities to offset the cost of future care.
Seat Belt Defect - $2,000,000 Settlement
Our California product liability attorneys recovered $2,000,000 from a U.S. automaker on behalf of a 15-year-old girl who was ejected from an SUV after her mother fell asleep at the wheel and caused the vehicle to roll. The child was ejected through the passenger side window even though she was properly seat belted at the time of the accident. Our attorneys, and experts retained by them, were able to demonstrate that the vehicle was defective in design because the seat belt system failed to perform as expected, and to restrain a front seat occupant when the front seat was reclined. The automaker claimed that the minor child was not wearing her seat belt at the time of the accident, but experts retained by our attorneys were able to demonstrate, using photogrammetry and fiber analysis, that marking of the seat belt demonstrated it had been "loaded" by the body weight of the 15-year-old as she was ejected through the window, proving that the belt was in use at the of the collision.
Contact Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger for a FREE CONSULTATION with a San Francisco, California auto defect attorney experienced in defective auto components litigation.
