Practice Areas – Corporate

Product Liability / Design Defect

Each year tens of thousands of consumers and workers sustain severe injuries or death from dangerous and defective products. Such products may be hazardous because of poor design, manufacturing defects, or inadequate warning or instructions. It can be very difficult for the injured person to prevail in lawsuits for such injuries because of the technical nature of the design issues, and because a manufacturer will go to extreme lengths to defend its products or avoid responsibility for the harm their defective products cause. In most cases it will be necessary to present the testimony of well qualified design engineers to demonstrate the product defect.

DawsonBrownPS attorneys have experience with product liability claims and design defect litigation. attorneys have experience with such diverse claims as a dangerous or defective gasoline pipeline, fork lift, punch press, pharmaceutical products, scuba diving equipment and defective highway designs.

Plus:

> Highway and Pipeline Design Defects
> Dangerous Equipments and Products

Professional Negligence

(Legal, Medical and Accounting Malpractice)

We all must trust our personal health care, and legal and financial affairs to professionals who have specialized knowledge in fields which are unknown to us. In most cases we are well served by dedicated professionals. Often, what may appear as malpractice to a lay person is simply the result of a misunderstanding, or may simply be the result of an appropriate exercise of reasonable professional judgment on the part of the practitioner. But in every case, these professionals are also human beings. And since they are human beings, they make errors. Fortunately most such errors are relatively harmless, or can be quickly cured. But in some cases, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Stated broadly, all professionals have a duty to perform their services as a reasonable and prudent practitioner of that particular profession and specialty. Professionals also have a duty to avoid conflicts of interest with their clients. Such conflicts may be economic, or of a personal nature. Where harm results because the practitioner has breached their duty to you, it is they, not you, who must bear the responsibility for harm caused by such negligence.

Professional negligence claims are among the most complex, hotly contested, and expensive forms of personal injury litigation. The investigation and proof of such a claim can only be made with the assistance of highly qualified professional consultants in the given field. attorneys have experience handling professional negligence claims for plaintiffs. We carefully screen all such cases to insure that we undertake only meritorious cases with significant damages. If you feel we could be of assistance to you, we would be happy to discuss your case.

Common types of professional negligence cases in which we have represented injured parties are outlined below:

First Party Claims

The term “first party claims” means that the injured person has a claim against an insurance policy that was issued to them, or under which they are covered. For example, if you are in an automobile collision and have medical bills, then your own automobile coverage might pay those bills under the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) provisions of your policy. If your own insurance company refuses to pay those bills for treatment that your physician prescribes, then you might make a first party claim against your own insurance policy.

Another common type of first party claim occurs when you are injured in an automobile collision by somebody with no insurance, or not enough insurance to pay for the damages that were caused. In that case your own automobile coverage might pay those bills under the Underinsured Motorist (UIM) provisions of your policy. If your UIM insurer does not timely investigate, fails to fairly evaluate the claim, or fails to make reasonable efforts to settle the claim when liability is reasonably clear then a UIM claim can be made. Since this is a claim against your own insurance policy it is called a “first party” claim.

There are a number of other types of first party claims. DawsonBrownPS attorneys have experience with first party claims.

Third Party Claims

The term “third party claim” means that the injured person sues or makes a claim against a third party for the harm that occurred. Often that third party has insurance that will cover the claim. Many legal claims to recover compensation for injury are third party claims. DawsonBrownPS attorneys have experience with such claims.