Products Liability Cases

Examples of Complex Cases in which experts at Litigation Economics have provided analyses and testimony include the following:

Craig Winter vs. Chrysler Motors Corporation. Case against an automobile company by a teenager who suffered major internal and spinal injuries in an auto accident in which his seatbelt pressed sharply into his midsection when the car suddenly stopped. As a result, the young man was rendered a paraplegic with a colostomy. Analysis involved computing net lifetime economic loss with adjustments for the impact of disability on the likelihood of working, expected wage rates if worked, expected worklife and expected life. Future medical costs and loss of enjoyment of life also considered. Retained by Robert Williams and Steven Fisher, counsel for Plaintiff, Fisher & Daley, Suffield, Connecticut.

A products liability case involved a woman whose arm was injured by an automatic door that opened when she was standing by the door. At the time, Fall 2000, the woman held a senior accounting position in a high-tech firm in San Francisco. Plaintiff claims included lost future wages for permanent and total disability and future medical care, the latter included nearly $1 million for lifetime in-pool physical therapies and home-to-pool taxi rides. Litigation Economics provided counterarguments to lost wage claims by noting that the injured person had only a high school education and no formal training in accounting, and worked in a firm that was adversely impacted by the economic downturn in 2001. Jury verdict was for defense and when polled jury said they found Litigation Economics testimony more credible than opinions of plaintiff damages expert. Retained by Charles Horn, counsel for Defendant, Wright, Robinson, Osthimer & Tatum, San Francisco, California.

Todd Lee and Bessie Lee vs. U-Haul International, Inc., et al. Analysis of lost earnings capacity due to products liability involving carbon monoxide poisoning of dentist and his wife while driving a U-Haul truck. Retained by Daniel P. White, counsel for Plaintiff, Walnut Creek, California.