Personal Injury Attorney Settles Corvallis Wrongful Death Case
06.20.2010 – Oregon personal injury lawyer Michael Arnold settled a Corvallis motor vehicle vs. motorcycle products liability case. Other “big firms” rejected taking this Oregon product liability case that resulted in the death of a motorcycle passenger.
Benton County (Corvallis, Oregon) courthouse.
Three years earlier a husband and wife were riding their Harley Davidson motorcycle in a residential area of Corvallis in Benton County, Oregon. A negligent young man pulled out of an adjacent street without yielding the right-of-way to the motorcycle. The car caused the motorcycle to T-bone and crash into the the side of the car.
The driver was hung up in the handlebars, fracturing his pelvis. The wife was ejected up the ramp created by the slope of the operator’s back, launching her through the air (typical of passengers in a motorcycle front-impact collision. She landed on her head and suffered a basilar skull fracture, killing her almost instantly.
Corvallis Personal Injury Lawsuit Initiated (Products Liability)
The husband settled his and the estate’s personal injury cases with the adverse driver using a local Corvallis personal injury lawyer. Right before the Oregon statute of limitations expired for his wife’s wrongful death case, he opened the evidence that was returned by the Corvallis Police Department. Inside was a G-Max motorcycle helmet with a broken chin strap.
Personal injury attorney Mike Arnold has litigated motorcycle crash cases to juries.
Several Benton County, Albany, and Eugene personal injury attorneys turned down the wrongful death products liability case against the Chinese helmet manufacturer (G-Max) and the Oregon shop that sold the non-DOT-approved helmet.
Oregon personal injury lawyers Mike Arnold set up an eBay alert for the then-defunct manufacturer to purchase as many of the G-Max helmets as they could find. They then hired a structural engineer to smash them up and find out how much force it took to destroy the chin strap.
Our wrongful death lawyer also hired a biomechanical expert to determine if the death could have been avoided if the helmet chinstrap hadn’t failed.
Based on the lawyers’ exhaustive Corvallis personal injury investigation, the case proceeded to a mediation with a retired Multnomah County judge. The case resulted in a six-figure personal injury settlement for the estate of the decedent.
If you or a family member has been in a motor vehicle crash in Corvallis call a personal injury lawyer at 541-359-4585. Text/Call 24/7.
