Collapse of a defective jack stand causes the death of a husband with two young children.
This case involved a 32-year-old active duty serviceman. The Navy officer was replacing the rear axle of his pickup truck in the driveway of his home. A pair of three-legged jack stands manufactured by the Defendant, Doe Industries, Inc., supported the truck.
The jack stands had a rated capacity of 4,000 pounds. The Naval officer was only using 2,000 pounds of that capacity to support the rear of his truck. Despite the officer’s proper use of the equipment, one of the jack stand legs supporting the passenger’s side of the vehicle buckled. The truck collapsed on the officer and caused his death by asphyxiation.
Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook discovered that these same jack stands had been the subject of an earlier recall campaign due to complaints about the legs buckling under less than the maximum-rated weight. Although the jack stands involved in the officer’s death were manufactured after the product recall, Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook discovered that only minimal changes had been made to the design. Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook worked with mechanical engineering, metallurgist, economics, and psychiatry experts to demonstrate manufacturer negligence and subsequent damages to the victim and his surviving spouse and children. The Defendant settled for $3.75 million before trial.