Preserve the Evidence for Product Liability Cases
The three most important rules for handling product liability cases are: (1) preserve the evidence; (2) preserve the evidence; and (3) preserve the evidence. This is especially true for Florida accident injury lawyers who must deal with climate, hurricanes, and salt water conspiring with other factors to erode evidence.
When the integrity of a product is called into question, through allegations of design or manufacturing defect, it is critical to preserve the product following an accident. Sometimes, it is actually impossible to preserve the evidence when the product itself has been destroyed as a result of an accident. For example, a fire caused by a defect may destroy much of the evidence, or a boat which malfunctions may be lost at sea. Nevertheless, to the extent possible, whatever remains of the product should be preserved by storage, photographing, and/or videotaping.
If the product is damaged, an exemplar product may have to be purchased for inspection and analysis in addition to whatever non-destructive testing can be done with the product involved in the accident. Under Florida law, the plaintiff is charged with the responsibility of proving that the product was defective by design or manufacture at the time it left the hands of the maker or distributor of the product. This typically requires a full forensic examination of the product, to the extent allowed without creating further destruction of the product.
At the outset of an attorney’s investigation into a product liability cases, thought must be given to what efforts need to be undertaken to obtain the product, store it safely, or notify the party who has possession of the product that the product needs to be maintained and preserved. Failure to preserve the evidence will undoubtedly lead to legal challenges, some of which may be insurmountable.
Miami product liability lawyers need to keep the critical mantra of “preserve the evidence” in mind at the outset of a case. At Halpern, Santos & Pinkert, P.A., we have had the experience of hiring scuba divers to search for component parts of a truck that crashed into oncoming traffic on the 7 mile bridge, and then flipped over a guardrail into the Atlantic Ocean. This is just one example of the extremes that may need to be explored to collect and preserve evidence. Dedication to the concept of preserving the evidence not only requires the expenditure of funds, but also requires creative thinking.
When we handle tire defect cases at Halpern, Santos & Pinkert, P.A., we make it a habit to scour the roadway both one mile in front of the accident site, and one mile after the accident site searching for any rubber that may originally have been part of the failed tire. This habit allows us to be confident that we have collected the critical evidence in these types of cases.
