Product Liability Lawyer Orlando

Millions of people are hurt and killed by dangerous and defective products each year. Kitchen appliances explode, tire treads separate, airbags do not deploy—the list goes on and on. The law provides a way for those hurt or killed by defective products to recover the financial compensation they and their families need to rebuild their lives. The remedy comes from a body of law known as “product liability.”

 Product liability is baked into the heart and soul of our firm—it has been a central focus of our practice since day one. As a result, we’ve cultivated a reputation as one of the nation’s top product liability law firms over the past several decades and are regularly asked to help other attorneys pursue cases all over the country. 

Whether you are a consumer or another lawyer, our promise is the same: if you call us, we will dive headfirst into the case and leave no stone unturned. And if a defective product is to blame, we will fight to get the compensation you, or your clients, deserve.

What is a “defective product”?  

Products can be defective for many different reasons, including poor design, sloppy manufacturing processes, deficient quality controls, or a lack of necessary and clear warnings. These types of defects can affect nearly any type of product people use and are exposed to each day. A few examples of defective products we’ve come across in our practice include:  

• Tires that catastrophically fail on the road, causing the driver to lose control over the vehicle
• Car, truck, or sport utility vehicle roofs that collapse during a crash, exacerbating the injuries that the driver or passengers would have otherwise suffered
• Airbags that fail to deploy, deploy with too much force, deploy when they should not, or, as in the case with recalled Takata airbags, rupture and shoot metal shrapnel
• Medical drugs and devices that fail to perform their job or cause other unintended harms
• All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that are prone to rolling over
• Toys that pose a choking danger or were made with toxic chemicals
• Chairs that fall apart, causing someone to fall to the floor
• Dressers that can tip over and severely injure minor children
• Stoves or ovens that start a fire or emit dangerous carbon monoxide (“CO2”)
• Fire or CO2 detectors that fail to detect a fire or CO2 and sound the alert
• Keyless ignition systems that allow the vehicles to remain on even after the owners enter the home, exposing them to CO2 poisoning
• Vehicles that rollaway after the driver exits and then run over the driver or somebody else

But these are just a few examples. Cases must always be analyzed under their own individual circumstances because the law is so flexible as to what may be considered a defective product. Which brings us to the next question.

How can I tell if I might have a case?

There is no black-and-white answer to this question because products liability cases are unique. That’s why we love this area of the law. Our product liability lawyer specializes in identifying and pursuing the difficult cases—the ones other firms turn down because the answer is not obvious. When we are asked to look at a case, the first thing we do is step back, look at the big picture, and ask whether something seems wrong or unusual. We call this the “gut test.” It works because of the experience, knowledge, intuition, and instincts we’ve developed through litigating these cases day-in and day-out for decades. We see the red flags others often miss because of that invaluable experience.

For example, the Firm’s founder, Rich Newsome, was asked to investigate a case involving a 14 year old girl who was paralyzed from the chest down after being ejected from a car. The crash followed a tire tread separation—so, Rich was asked to see whether there was a viable case against the tire manufacturer. The facts did not bear that theory out; the tire failure could not be blamed on the tire manufacturer.

Still, though, something about the case did not sit right with Rich. Maybe the tire was not to blame, but he felt strongly that the young girl should not have been paralyzed. He kept coming back to one particular fact: the police report said the girl was wearing her seatbelt. This fact did not square with the reality that she had been ejected. Something seemed off. So, Rich kept digging. And then it dawned on him. The problem was the seatback. It had not been properly secured, and as a result, the seat came loose and threw the child out of the car. Rich’s suspicions were then confirmed by technical documents showing that the seat was originally designed to be held in place by bolted-on hinges. Instead of the bolted-on hinges, the defendant in Rich’s case had used spring-loaded pins.    

Similarly, Rich was presented with another tough case involving a young mother who died in a minor hydroplane accident. The crash should have resulted in only minor injuries because she had been driving just 10 to 12 miles per hour—yet somehow, she suffered a fatal neck injury. After digging into the case, Rich discovered the answer that no one else saw: the problem was that the airbag deployed when it should not have. And his work on the case proved his theory out. He argued that it was well known in the industry that airbags are violent and are far more dangerous than helpful at certain speeds, and that the defendant still chose to have the airbags deploy well below what would have been a safe speed. The jury agreed with this view of the case and awarded a multimillion-dollar verdict to Rich’s clients. The case was groundbreaking as it was one of the first times a plaintiff had obtained a favorable verdict in a defective airbag trial.    

Product liability cases serve another critical role in our society: they hold big corporations accountable. Too often, companies are allowed to make tons of profits from the sale of products that go on to maim people—with the victims and taxpayers footing the costs of medical bills and lost wages. The bottom line is that someone needs to hold these companies accountable. That’s exactly what product liability lawsuits have done time and time again.

Our firm has been at the forefront of uncovering widespread defects that endangered people throughout the country. For example, our firm was asked to look at a case involving a tire tread separation that led to the death of a father. Two other law firms had looked at the case before us, and each of them passed. We came at the case with fresh eyes. After a thorough investigation, we discovered what happened: a faulty valve stem was to blame. And as we dug into the case, we found out that this was a recurring problem. Our work in that case led to a nationwide recall of millions of valve stems, along with a financial recovery that helped our clients begin rebuilding their lives.  

Our firm was also at the forefront of the Takata airbag litigation. The now-notorious inflator defect—which can result in metal shrapnel being shot into the faces and necks of the driver and passengers—was kept hidden for years. It only began to come to light in a prominent way when injury lawsuits were filed in public court rather than secretly settled. Our firm brought one of those early cases on behalf of Corey Burdick, a forklift driver from Lake County, Florida. After our lawsuit received media attention, Senator Bill Nelson personally met with our client at our evidence warehouse in Orlando, Florida before going on to lead the Congressional hearings into the defect.

Our record speaks for itself.  We have a proven track record of large verdicts and settlements in product liability cases—a fact that is well-known to the defendants and defense lawyers we regularly go up against. That track record is critical because big corporations know which law firms pose a risk of obtaining a huge verdict and which do not.

Our success is no accident. It has been hard-won through decades of fighting with powerful corporations to obtain access to the smoking gun documents they never wanted to see the light of day. Through that experience, we’ve learned how big corporations operate. And how they try to hide the ball. We have also spent decades working with the best technical experts to unravel complicated defects and explain them to judges and juries. In doing so, we have learned how to spot the issues.

Another critical part of our success is the major resources we bring to the fight. Product liability cases require a huge war chest. The expert costs alone can total in the hundreds of thousands, or if a case goes to trial, millions of dollars. Our firm has the financial backing to front those costs—and we do so whenever necessary.

Our firm also has the infrastructure needed to respond quickly and timely from the start of a case through the end. For example, we have a complete in-house investigation team dedicated to tracking down evidence, preserving crash scenes, and inspecting products for defects. And we have a large, climate-controlled warehouse to protect the evidence. The warehouse is fitted with top-of-the-line tools and equipment to conduct the inspections and testing needed to fully understand what went wrong.       

Call Newsome Melton Law today to speak with our experienced product liability lawyer

The bottom line is that you may be leaving millions of dollars on the table if you are not looking at a possible product liability case. We focus on helping injured people and other lawyers pursue cases against product manufacturers. Please give us a call to make sure you and your clients are getting full and fair compensation. There’s nothing to lose. The call and consultation are free. And you may gain millions of dollars by identifying a valuable claim that would otherwise go overlooked.