Casey Gerry’s San Diego Auto Accident Lawyers Case Experience

Casey Gerry's San Diego auto accident lawyers have extensive experience throughout Southern California representing individuals and families in San Diego county who have been injured or who have lost loved ones as a result of automobile and motorcycle collisions. Injuries may range from tendon and muscle pain to severe injury to bones, spinal cord, amputation, and wrongful death. For more than 60 years San Diego auto accident lawyers have successfully resolved many thousands of such cases. Our auto accident attorneys in San Diego teach courses and seminars for other attorneys. One of our partners is a co-author of the authoritative California Automobile Collision Handbook, now in its seventh year of publication (LexisNexis Publication, California Automobile Collision Handbook).

Here are some of recent cases the Casey Gerry auto collision attorneys have resolved:

Seat failure and seatbelt failure

Casey Gerry auto accident lawyers in San Diego recently brought an action against KIA Motors Corporation for a crash in which both seats and seat belts 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 seat belts were constructed in a design known for over 15 years to be dangerous, and at impact they tore from their mounts. Without seat belts 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. We 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.

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 seat belt 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 lap belt. 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 abdominal 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 Casey Gerry car accident attorneys demonstrated that the seat belt 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.

Tire failure

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 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.

Casey Gerry auto accident lawyer 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 totaled 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.

Casey Gerry auto accident lawyers 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. Casey Gerry 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.

Unsafe seatbelt

General Motors’ failure to provide a three-point seat belt 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 jackknifing 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 unnecessary loss of their mother’s life.

Dangerous roads

A very significant case involving a family visiting San Diego was brought against the State of California by Casey Gerry's team of auto collision and highway design attorneys. The husband, wife and daughter were traveling on a state highway during a rainstorm when they saw a car drive through a large puddle of water that had collected on the roadway, go out of control, and skid off the roadway to their right. They pulled over to help. While the mother and daughter stayed in the car, the father scrambled down the embankment to the car below. While the father was helping the other driver, another car drove into the same puddle and careened off the highway at the same spot as the first. That car struck the father, killing him immediately.

Casey Gerry's car accident lawyer representing the case in San Diego believed that it was more than coincidence that two cars went off the road at exactly the same location. We were able to obtain the records for the design and the elevations of the roadway from CalTrans. We measured the roadway and found that as it was actually built, it did not comply with the original design. As a result, water collected on the roadway during rainstorms, creating the considerable risk to vehicles. It became clear to the State that the flawed implementation of their own design had resulted in the death of this fine young man. Our San Diego accident attorney was able to resolve the case with a substantial settlement for his widow and daughter.