California Defective Products Lawyers
Product Defects that Result in Brain or Spinal Cord Injury
San Francisco Bay Area · Los Angeles · San Diego
Defective Helmet in Bicycle Accident - $17,000,000 Closed Head Injury Verdict
Our product liability safety group represented a Silicon Valley software engineer who sustained a serious closed head injury, involving temporal lobe occipital injury, basal skull fracture and severance of the temporal artery as a result of an auto vs. bicycle collision. A left-turning auto struck our client and propelled him off of his bicycle and into the coming car. Although helmeted, he sustained a serious fracture of the temporal bone with resulting subdural hemorrhage and brain stem compression. Our traumatic brain injury specialists put on evidence in the Superior Court trial regarding our client's future rehabilitation needs, loss of earnings, required future attendant care, as well as the expected cost of lifetime medical treatment. The jury verdict also involved compensation to our client's wife, whose life was irrevocably changed by reason of her husband's cognitive impairment.
Defective Seat Belt - $6,400,000 Paraplegia Settlement
Our product liability spinal cord injury lawyers negotiated a combination of cash and annuity settlement with a present value of $2,000,000, with guaranteed future payments in excess of $6,400,000 on behalf of a 19-year-old high school student who sustained abdominal trauma and a fractured spine when riding as a lap-only belted passenger in the rear of a full size General Motors auto which was involved in a 35 mile-per-hour head-on collision. Our client, who restrained only by the lap belt provided by the manufacturer, flexed forward over the belt at impact, exerting knifelike pressure on his abdominal organs and an L2-3 fracture which required stabilization with Harrington rods.
Our attorney team claimed that the vehicle was defective because it failed to incorporate a 3-point restraint for the middle rear-seat passenger. Our spinal cord injury lawyers sought and recovered economic damages to compensate our client for his inability to engage in the competitive work force, to provide for attendant care in his later years, and to make certain that his medical and equipment needs were met over the course of his lifetime.
Lathe Failure - $4,000,000 Brain Damage Settlement
Our traumatic brain injury lawyers negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a value of $4,000,000 on behalf of a 47-year-old metal worker who suffered a catastrophic brain injury after a 50-pound piece of metal ejected from a metal-forming lathe that was manufactured by the defendant corporation. Walkup attorneys demonstrated that the defendant corporation manufactured the lathe without analyzing and protecting against all possible failure modes. Our lawyers showed that the defendant was aware of at least two similar lathe accidents.
Under the terms of the settlement, approximately $3,000,000 was paid in cash and $1,000,000 was dedicated to the purchase of multiple annuities to pay for ongoing medical costs. Our TBI attorney team also resolved a workers' compensation lien in excess of $1,000,000, which was compromised and waived.
