How A Casey Gerry Auto Accident Lawyer In San Diego Can Help

Casey Gerry’s car accident experience and representative cases

Automotive crashes can be caused by a variety of factors, including intoxication, negligence and gross misconduct on the part of other drivers, excessive speed, dangerous roadway conditions, unsafe vehicle design, inadequate safety equipment, and failure of automotive parts. As a full-service plaintiff’s law firm, Casey Gerry has extensive experience not only with automotive crashes, but with highway design cases, negligence and misconduct, and product liability. The firm’s deep and broad experience enables its auto collision attorneys to deal successfully with every kind of automotive collision. Here are some of our recent cases:

Defective safety equipment

Casey Gerry San Diego auto accident lawyers recently brought an action against KIA Motors Corporation for a crash in which both seats and seatbelts failed in a KIA vehicle, causing the deaths of two young people. The KIA vehicle, driven on I-8 by the young couple, was hit a glancing blow in the rear end by a tractor trailer. Although the vehicles’ speeds and the force of the impact were relatively minor, the seats in the Kia Vehicle buckled and collapsed backward. The collapse of the driver’s seat caused him to fall backward, losing contact with the pedals and the steering wheel. Out of control, the vehicle lurched to the shoulder and then rolled over. The KIA’s seatbelts were constructed in a design known for over 15 years to be dangerous, and at impact they tore from their mounts. Without seatbelts restraining them, the young couple was partially ejected during the rollover, and died from injuries suffered on impact. Their deaths were a direct result of the defective vehicle occupant protection system.

Casey Gerry auto accident attorneys were able to show in KIA’s own documents that they had violated their own internal standards. Our lawyers have found that very often manufacturers will create a sufficiently high standard of safety for themselves, but then fail to meet it, resulting in serious injury or death to users of the vehicles. The families of the victims received appropriate and substantial compensation for their losses.

Seatbelt failure and defective seat design

A 17 year old college student riding in the right rear seat of a Chevy Cavalier suffered significant injuries in a collision when his seat belt and his seat failed to protect him. At impact, the seatbelt retractor failed to lock, and instead paid out several inches, rendering the belt useless as a restraint. The man “submarined,” or slid forward under the lapbelt. The submarining effect was increased by a dangerous and defective passenger seat design: its cushion was not built with a structural ramp to prevent the passenger sliding forward.

As the victim slid forward, the seat belt rode up against his abdominal wall. When it locked it caused serious internal abominal injuries, internal bleeding and a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebra. After emergency medical treatment, extensive diagnostic procedures, and several abdominal and orthopedic surgeries, this young man continued to suffer gastrointestinal pain, back pain, and significant loss of flexibility. He could no longer surf or skateboard, activities he formerly enjoyed.

His CaseyGerry attorneys demonstrated that the seatbelt retractor did not comply with federal minimum safety standards. They also showed that General Motors has been aware of seat ramp design flaws since the 1970’s, and more than 30 years later, they continued to install a defective and dangerous product in their vehicles. In mediation the young man was awarded costs of past and future medical expenses, and compensation for the loss of quality of life.

Roof Crush

A 25 year old college student was driving his 1996 Chevy Blazer and wearing his seatbelt when a sharp dip in the road threw the vehicle into a skid. The driver attempted to regain control, but the vehicle veered off the road and rolled over several times. In the first rotation the driver felt the vehicle’s roof smashing into his head. After several more rotations the vehicle came to rest upright. Three passengers walked away unharmed, but the force of the roof crush left the driver a paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down.

This active, athletic young man, who had planned to become a teacher, endured a long and painful recovery. He will remain a wheelchair, unable to feel anything in the lower half of his body and dependent on friends and paid caregivers to attend his most basic personal needs.

CaseyGerry’s automotive and medical experts confirmed that the rollover did indeed bring about the roof crush, and that the roof crush caused this young man’s severe and irreversible paraplegia.

CaseyGerry’s attorney demonstrated that General Motors fully understood that vehicles with a high center of gravity such as the Blazer were at higher risk for rollover. As long ago as the 1960’s and 70’s research data showed that lateral collapse of the A, or forward, roof pillar and roof intrusion into the occupant space was a cause of many serious injuries and deaths. Despite GM’s knowledge, they continued to build the Blazer with a high center of gravity and to increase its total weight with no increase in the weight of the A pillar.

A physician familiar with the consequences of paraplegia drew up a life care plan estimating this young man’s lifetime medical and care needs based on his specific injuries. His lifetime loss of income was also calculated. CaseyGerry was able to secure a settlement that assures this worthy young man a future of adequate care and compensation for his severe and preventable injuries.

SUV rollover

Over the last 20 years, Casey Gerry SUV rollover attorneys have litigated a large number of cases against manufacturers of SUVs and light trucks. Casey Gerry represented several families for the wrongful death of three young men, all married, who were killed when their Toyota 4-Runner went out of control and flipped over. Casey Gerry worked with experts who examined the stability and maneuverability of the vehicle, and with their testimony we were able to establish that the 4-Runner’s design created a high risk of serious injury or death to the occupants.

Fatal negligence

Casey Gerry represented three adult children in an action against Sears for the death of their mother caused by the defective installation of a tire. Two sisters, their husbands and children, and their mother were traveling when the left rear tire of the vehicle blew out. The car veered into the median, and then rolled over. The grandmother was thrown from the car, and sustained injuries which caused her death. Two young children were also thrown from the vehicle, and sustained significant injuries while suffering post traumatic stress disorder from seeing their grandmother killed.

Four new tires had been purchased and installed at Sears less than two weeks before the accident. Casey Gerry’s tire expert determined that although the tire was sound when sold, a careless installation caused a large cut in the tire carcass. When the family’s vehicle left the installation bay it was a disaster waiting to happen. As the vehicle was traveling at highway speed, the cut spread, the tire tore away from the rim and deflated instantaneously. Casey Gerry’s auto accident lawyer established that the installer had twice before cut a tire while installing it, that Sears was aware of this, and had continued to allow him to work. The settlement took into account the children’s injuries, and the family’s loss of a dear and valued mother and grandmother.

In another case of tire failure, a young woman in Riverside, CA, was driving her 1997 Ford Explorer equipped with Bridgestone Wilderness AT tires. She was driving on the interstate well within the legal speed limit when, without warning the tread on one of tires tore and peeled away from the tire. Without the tread the tire could not grip the road. The Explorer spun out of control and careened into the center median barrier at 60 mph. The violent impact totaled her vehicle, and seriously injured the driver. She was rushed to the hospital, where she required extensive treatment. Despite her doctors’ best efforts she continued to have serious injuries and psychological after effects from the collision. Her physical health, her psychological well-being, and her ability to work were significantly damaged by the collision and her injuries

CaseyGerry attorney Thomas Luneau filed suit on her behalf. He established that the tire’s manufacturers and the dealership that sold her the car were or should have been aware of the Wilderness AT tires’ defects and the risk they posed. Their failure to warn the purchaser and their sale of a product known to be defective constituted serious negligence. This deserving young woman received a settlement that covered her medical expenses past and future, compensation for her psychological suffering and her inability to work at her job.

Defective steering mechanism

A San Diego man was driving his 2005 Ford F-150 truck when the left front shock absorber and steering components failed. He was no longer able to steer the truck. Still at full speed, it veered left into the oncoming stream of traffic, where it rammed head-on into another vehicle. The violent impact totalled the truck, and the driver suffered severe fractures of his left foot and his cervical spine. After the collision he continued to suffer pain, severe anxiety, and flashbacks of the events. He lost earnings while he was hospitalized for his injuries, and faces the prospect of continuing loss of earning from disability.

CaseyGerry attorneys established that the Ford Motor Company and the dealership that sold and maintained the vehicle were aware of the flawed design and manufacture of the shock absorber and steering components. By their failure to correct the flawed parts and their representing that the vehicle was safe, the defendants failed in the exercise of ordinary care and reasonable diligence. CaseyGerry negotiated a settlement for the client that compensated him for his medical expenses, both past and future, his loss of income, and his pain and suffering.

Defective seatbelt design

General Motors’ failure to provide a three-point seatbelt for passengers in the rear seat of its 1986 Cadillac de Ville caused the death of an elderly woman. The woman was traveling on an interstate with her son, who was driving, and her daughter, who was in the front seat, on the way to a family gathering. They came over a hill and found on a vehicle parked partially in the roadway. The son hit the brakes and tried to avoid the car, but ended up colliding with the rear end of it. The collision and the rapid deceleration slammed the back seat passenger into the belt, and caused her body to jackknife over it. She was in serious distress, and paramedics were called to the scene. While they were attending to her she went into full cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her injuries included broke ribs, fractures of the spine and pelvis, and major internal hemorrhaging in her chest and abdomen.

General Motors had for many years been aware of the dangers of jackknifiing and injury that lap belts presented. Despite this they fought federal standards for three-point belts, arguing that these belts would increase the cost per vehicle by $12. General Motors saved $12 on the price of this 1986 Cadillac De Ville, and cost a family the life of a loving mother and grandmother. The mediator for the case awarded the family substantial damages for the unneccessary loss of their mother’s life.