Defective Products Victories
Bloom v. Brunswick Corporation
$9,000,000 verdict for dangerous design of boat.
Billy Bloom was in his mid-20s when he and his friends were water skiing at Barlett Lake. Billy's boat hit the wake from another boat, he was ejected, and his unmanned boat circled back and amputated his right leg. A Maricopa County jury awarded Billy $3 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages against Brunswick and Mercury Marine for failing to properly include a kill switch with their engine. This safety device would have caused the engine to turn off when Billy was ejected.
Doty v. Bishara and Truck Insurance Exchange
Jury returns $4,000,000 landmark verdict for tire failure.
The Doty family was vacationing in Northern Arizona when both rear tires on their SUV catastrophically failed simultaneously, resulting in a rollover accident near Lee's Ferry. As a consequence of the rollover, the husband and father who was driving the vehicle was rendered significantly and permanently brain injured and the family's ten year old son was killed. Ted Schmidt tried the case in Pocatello, Idaho against the installer of the tires and successfully received a verdict against the installer and the largest judgment in the history of Pocatello County: $4 million. Subsequently, in litigating against Truck Insurance Exchange, the installer's insurer which engaged in bad faith conduct during the litigation, Ted succeeded in a landmark case Bishara v. Truck Insurance Exchange, which established the obligation of an insurance company to communicate settlement offers to its insured to avoid third party bad faith.
Deadly defects in Ford 15-passenger vans and Goodyear LRE tires uncovered.
Our client, a school teacher, was wearing her seatbelt and sitting in the second row of a Ford 15-passenger van when the van's left rear tire suffered a tread separation. The van rolled over and our client lost her left arm in the crash. Our investigation proved that Goodyear knew that its tire had a history of problems and failure — especially in Arizona's hot climate — because of defects in design and manufacture. We were also able to establish that the design of the 15-passenger van made it dangerous and more susceptible to rollover than appropriate.
Weak and unsafe SUV roof kills two Tucson teachers.
We represented two surviving spouses, from two couples, who had lost their respective partners in a Suburban rollover on the way from Tucson to San Carlos, Mexico. The accident occurred about 45 minutes south of the U.S./Mexico border. During our investigation, we uncovered key documents and were able to prove that the roof on our client's Chevrolet Suburban was poorly designed and weak.
Defective baby formula stunts growth.
Ted Schmidt successfully proved that nutritional deficiencies in a soy based baby formula manufactured by Syntex had caused his infant client to experience “failure to thrive,” thus stunting her growth. On the morning of trial, the defendant agreed to a $2 million settlement.
Dangerous vehicle design leaves 21-year-old U of A student paralyzed.
Our 21-year-old client was left a quadriplegic after a rollover accident on I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix. We reached a confidential settlement against Honda arguing that the roof and roof support system were too weak to properly protect occupants in a rollover accident.
Faulty construction materials and equipment cause explosion that kills handyman.
We represented the widow and young daughters of a Tucson handyman killed when the Liquid Nails glue he was using was ignited by a spark from a Stanley air-powered nail gun. Our investigation uncovered that Liquid Nails designed a new label that did not comply with the law and failed to contain the required warning language. The missing warning told users that the glue was explosive. We were also able to establish that Stanley knew its nailer created sparks yet did nothing to make its tool safer.
Dangerously formulated construction compound explodes and burns man.
We successfully negotiated a significant settlement for a young boy whose father was killed as a result of a sealing compound exploding while he was performing tile work.
Construction company responsible for injuries caused by its poorly maintained equipment.
We were pleased to negotiate a substantial settlement for our client who suffered a catastrophic injury at the hands of a gasoline-driven auger, which caught his pant leg and ripped into his flesh while he was digging a hole for a telephone pole.