Defective Design

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With many unsafe products, the danger is in the design. Searcy Denney has gained substantial recoveries for victims of defective design.

The potential for encountering products with a design defect is almost unlimited: household items, children’s toys, electrical and electronic devices, recreational products, automobiles and trucks, planes and trains, all manner of things that we buy and use every day. The good news is, in most cases these design defects go unnoticed and do not cause any harm. But they are accidents waiting to happen, and the bad news is, when design defects cause accidents, they kill or cause devastating injury.

The attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley are especially skilled in ferreting out the cause of defective design accidents, and in facing off against the powerful attorneys that negligent manufacturers hire in their defense. We know that it is no wonder that big corporations keep high-powered attorneys on the payroll; in case after case, we have discovered that a manufacturer had known about the design defect for years, but hid or lied about tests and continued to make and market the defective product.

In our 32 years of experience handling personal injury cases, we have represented clients harmed by a wide variety of defective designs:

• Several families and victims who sustained brain injuries and/or paralysis in SUV rollovers because roof strength was not sufficient to protect them, and the SUV manufacturers knew this. For our clients, we have recovered $25 million against General Motors, a substantial confidential settlement from Ford Motor Company, and $10.4 million from Ford in a tragic accident caused by a defective seatback.

• A West Palm Beach man and his stepson, who had gone hunting, were found dead at their campsite because of carbon monoxide poisoning emanating from their Coleman Heater Focus 5. In the course of investigation, Searcy Denney attorneys learned that this was not the first case of CO poisoning from the Focus 5, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission had required Coleman to add warning labels or tags to the heaters. However, warnings on the Focus 5 did not say that it would produce carbon monoxide, that the heater should be turned off if it did not function properly, or that use of the heater required sufficient ventilation to prevent death from CO poisoning. A U.S. District Court jury awarded a total verdict of $10.1 million to the man’s widow and surviving young children.
  

  

• After 10 years of difficult litigation, our attorneys Karen Terry and Earl Denney recovered a substantial confidential settlement for the family of a sea plane pilot who was drowned when his plane plummeted into the water. In meticulous examination of the evidence, it was learned that bilge pumps installed on the plane to remove water instead allowed water to remain on the aircraft, which flowed to the rear of the plane, thus shifting the center of gravity and causing the crash.

• In another confidential settlement, we were able to find a measure of justice for a former physical education teacher rendered a quadriplegic when he fell against a padded protective wall on a basketball court. Searcy Denney’s investigation determined that the wall padding was not safe for its intended use, and that the manufacturer had not performed impact testing to assure its safety.

In cases of defective design accidents, Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley is prepared to marshal the full extent of its resources in order to seek the justice that clients deserve. If a family member has been killed, or you or a loved one has been injured, because of a design defect, please fill in our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange a confidential free consultation.