Successful Product Liability Defense

Client:	Dorel Juvenile Group
Representation:	Product Liability Defense
Date:	June 2008
Locations:	New Jersey

Summary:

Attorneys from Schiff Hardin's New York and Chicago offices joined forces to win a jury verdict in a product liability case in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

The plaintiff fell from a combination chair/stepstool manufactured by our client, sustaining $350,000 in medical expenses relating to a knee injury; she alleged that the product was defective because, at the time of her fall, a bolt securing one of its legs had fallen out. The plaintiff originally demanded $1 million to settle the case.

We demonstrated to the jury that the bolt was missing due to the plaintiff's failure to properly maintain the product. The jury deliberated for 46 minutes before returning a verdict of "no defect."

(Eleanor Madden and Jerome Madden v. Cosco, A Dorel Company, et al., Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division: Burlington County, Docket No. BUR-L-3437-04)