AUTOMOTIVE & other PRODUCT LIABILITY

SERVICES
Gladding & Michel specializes in the investigation of accidents and related events that result in products liability litigation. The firm utilizes an investigative protocol that provides a standard procedure for the collection of complete and uniform factual data relating to the environmental, mechanical, and human factors involved in accidents, so that the resulting information will be of maximum use to the client in defending against products liability actions.

The factual circumstances surrounding the accident are developed through interviews with involved parties, percipient witnesses, official investigators, and post-accident emergency medical service providers, to the extent required to establish proximate cause.

Complete investigations also include research necessary to develop the background of the involved products user, as well as the history of the involved product from the standpoint of its prior use or misuse, maintenance, and after-market changes or modifications that alter its original design specifications or affect its intended operational capabilities. All collateral reports, photographs, and related materials that are collected or generated during the course of an investigation are submitted concurrent with a comprehensive report of findings that is tailored to meet requirements and the existing report protocols of the individual client.

Principals and staff of the firm are highly trained and skilled in applying investigative techniques that are critical to the conduct of precise and well documented investigations. The scope of such investigations, although tailored to conform to the individual needs of the client, usually includes thorough inspections of the involved product and accident site, to insure that their inherent characteristics, as well as all existing forms of evidence, are documented and preserved for subsequent analysis, as necessary.

EXPERTISE
Over the past 42 years, principals and staff of the firm have investigated cases involving a wide range of products produced by foreign and domestic manufacturers, including:  automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, tires and wheels, aircraft, heavy and specialized equipment, machinery, drugs, tools, and consumer products.

The firm has had extensive involvement and experience in the investigation of products litigation relating to allegations involving improper and defective design, handling characteristics, crashworthiness, rollover propensity, rollover protection systems, air bags, power plant failure, brake and electrical system failure, improper park phenomenon, sudden acceleration phenomenon, post-collision fuel-fed fire, tire and wheel failure, high-speed wobble, lower leg device and gas tank design involving motorcycles, adverse reaction to drugs and medical products, improper product advertising and warnings, and related failure of component systems, parts, and tools.


REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS
  • Foreign and domestic automobile manufacturers
  • Foreign and domestic motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle manufacturers
  • Tire manufacturers
  • Aircraft manufacturers
  • Consumer product, equipment, and tool manufacturers