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COPYRIGHT©
2001 |
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PAGE
1 OF 8
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A
Primer on Crashworthiness
Crashworthiness
Cases: During the last year, widespread publicity on Ford Explorers and Firestone tires has kindled renewed interest in and knowledge of crashworthiness litigation. For the lawyer, who may be faced with a catastrophic injury or death arising in any one of many types of automobile crashes, it is important to remember that Explorer-Firestone issues are only the tip of the iceberg of the kinds of automotive defects that may confront the practicing lawyer.
This is not an exhaustive listing of known automotive defects, and one must be aware of the possibility of previously unrecognized defects in any given event. But, for the general practice lawyer, or anyone not specializing in crashworthiness and automotive defect litigation, it is not necessary to be able to make the final determination that a crashworthiness case does or does not exist in a given situation. The first question is – Is this a potential crashworthiness case? We hope the information on these pages will help to answer that critical question, and the second, related question – What do I do with it?
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The
purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize some of the more well-known
and widespread automotive defects which the practicing lawyer may
see, to present pointers on how to recognize potential causes of
action that should not be overlooked, and to point out actions that
should be taken immediately to preserve the client’s rights. |