When
a person uses a product, he expects that the product has
been designed and manufactured in a reasonably safe manner.
Unfortunately, numerous products are released on the market,
which have hidden dangers or defects that injure or maim
the person using them. In product liability cases the focus
is whether a product was designed applying industry standards,
including safety devices to protect against hazards or warnings
to alert the user of danger.
Lloyd
& Cavanagh has challenged the safety of a number of
products over the years.
In
the early l993, Kurt Lloyd represented a young boy who lost
his leg when a riding lawnmower rolled over his leg after
his mother had got off the seat with the blade engaged to
work in the yard. Using patent research and comparative
product testing, Mr. Lloyd was able to show that the defendant
International Harvester ("Navastar") knew when
it designed its riding lawnmower product line that everyday
consumers would inadvertently leave the engine running with
blade engaged and dismount from the seat so that they could
pick up debris in the yard. After hiring expert engineers
who redesigned the defendant’s product with an automatic
safety kill switch, Mr. Lloyd reached a confidential settlement
with the defendant in which it agreed to pay the largest
amount ever paid in a riding lawnmower accident case.
In
l996, Straight Line Water Sports began manufacturing a new
ski rope device called the "Woggle" which was
made in Hong Kong with an injection mold plastic process.
The woggle was intended as a quick release device to connect
and disconnect tow ropes to water ski handles and inner
tubes. The plaintiff, a sixteen-year-old woman, was being
towed behind her father’s boat on an inner tube when the
woggle device shattered blinding her in one eye and sank
to the bottom of the Illinois River. After hiring a plastics
engineer who tested dozens of facsimile woggles, plaintiff’s
counsel Kurt Lloyd proved that the injected mold had been
designed improper and likely produced air bubbles in the
woggle, which broke. The case then settled for a value in
excess of 1.1 million dollars.
In
l997, the Victoria Secret Stores manufactured its own line
of scented body splashes for retail sale to the female public.
Its number one selling product " Pear Glace" was
labeled and marketed as a "moisturizing body splash,"
but failed to warn women that it was highly flammable due
to the alcohol content when it was being applied. Having
misbranded the product, the defendant agreed to settle a
case involving second and third degree burns to a young
woman’s arms and neck in excess of $400,000.
Attorneys
at Lloyd & Cavanagh have also handled a number of drug
product cases, such as the recall of asthma drugs, defective
warnings for steroid drugs, and mislabeled anesthetics.
