Effective, Efficient, Experienced
Practice Areas
Product Liability
Buckley Christopher lawyers have extensive product liability litigation experience and have been recognized for handling defective product claims on a national level. These claims can sound in negligence, strict liability, design defector, breach of warranty, and generally relate to manufacturing defects, design defects, claims of improper/inadequate warnings or lack of safety devices/instructions. The Firm’s product liability team has experience ranging from Georgia trial work to trial and appellate litigation in courts across the country. Representative clients include RPM, Inc., Bondo, Tremco, and Rustoleum.
Successes
Assumption of Risk Negates Liability
Representing an equipment manufacturer being sued in a wrongful death product liability matter, BCH secured summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The Plaintiffs asserted the equipment manufacturer was liable for the fatal injuries received by a factory employee who crawled beneath the equipment while it was energized. Plaintiffs asserted claims of negligent design, manufacture, sale, installation, and maintenance of the equipment, along with negligent placement in the market, and negligent approval of design and installation. Plaintiffs also asserted strict liability claims. Judge Horace T. Ward agreed with the Defendant that available facts could lead to but one conclusion: the decedent proximately caused his own injuries and/or assumed the risk of injury when voluntarily entered below the energized equipment. The Court emphasized that the decedent’s use of the equipment was not a normal or probable consequence, and he failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence for his own safety.
Product Misuse
Our attorneys successfully defended a product manufacturer against claims of property damage and alleged product failure by a major construction company plaintiff. The plaintiff contractor used massive amounts of a wall small area/surface defect filler as exterior finish for the entire exterior of two large commercial structures. Under threat of frivolous litigation motions, the contractor dismissed the claims with prejudice.
Summary Judgment Secured
The firm has represented a major manufacturer of pools and outdoor activities gear with successful assertion of product misuse and proximate cause defenses in courts nationwide since 1995. By focusing on plaintiff's expert's criticism of the language and information in a production installation matter and the lack of evidence to show that plaintiff in any way relied on the product owner to warn or instruct the plaintiff, BCH secured summary judgment in a case which later led the co-defendant to settle all claims with no contribution from the firm's client.