Atlanta, GA Auto Defect Attorneys

Atlanta Auto Defect Lawyers Who Take On the Big Corporations

The attorneys at Butler Prather LLP have an unparalleled track record for winning verdicts involving defective automobiles. For over 35 years, we’ve been helping people in Georgia and across the nation who have been injured by faulty automobiles.

Butler Prather LLP has won large judgments for clients in cases involving defective products. In the case Hill v. Ford Motor Co., we obtained a $1.7 billion verdict. This win was important not only in getting justice for the Hill family but also because it raised awareness about a dangerous automotive defect present in more than 5.2 million Ford trucks.

After an automobile crash, you may be stuck with substantial medical bills and other expenses, such as lost wages. Our team will investigate your accident, and if your injuries were caused by defective auto parts, we’ll file a lawsuit to help you get a fair recovery.

Butler Prather LLP wins impressive settlements and verdicts for our clients. We’ve won ten verdicts that exceed $100 million and over 60 verdicts and settlements of over $10 million.

If you or a loved one was harmed in an Atlanta automobile accident caused by defective parts, contact Butler Prather LLP. Our team has the right mix of experience, determination, and resources to take on the auto manufacturers and win.

Call (706) 322-1990 or (800) 242-2962 to schedule a free consultation today.

Our Atlanta Defective Auto Parts Attorneys Know How To Win

Millions of Americans rely on automobiles to get around. You probably use your car for various activities, such as driving to work, picking up your kids from school, shopping, running errands, visiting friends, and taking vacations. Automobiles are an integral part of our daily lives. That’s why the government has set strict safety standards to protect drivers and passengers from unnecessary harm.

Vehicles with defective parts cause serious accidents and injuries. In these cases, the car and parts manufacturers may be held legally responsible for their negligence. When you’re going up against the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, experience and results matter. These companies have extensive resources at their command, and they’ll use everything they have to fight your claim.

You’ll want to have someone on your side who’s prepared to take on powerful corporations. At Butler Prather LLP, we’ve won eight- and nine-figure verdicts against major manufacturers, including General Motors, Toyota, Ford, and Chrysler, on behalf of accident victims and their families.

Butler Prather LLP Wins Massive Jeep Exploding Gas Tank Verdict

In 2015, Butler Prather LLP won a monumental auto defect lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the corporation that manufactures Jeep vehicles. For over 20 years, Chrysler used a strategy of deception, evasion, and political influence to avoid responsibility for multiple deaths and injuries caused by a design flaw in several of their Jeep vehicles, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, and Jeep Liberty. The Jeeps were built with a plastic gas tank positioned at the rear of the vehicle that was subject to explosion upon impact.

More than 70 fire-related deaths resulted from explosions that occurred during rear-end collisions. Jeep’s parent company, Chrysler, later named FCA, steadfastly refused to acknowledge that their vehicle design was responsible for these fatalities and injuries. They refused to fix the defective gas tanks despite intense public pressure that included an online petition sent to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) signed by over 128,000 people.

When four-year-old Remington Walden was killed in a fiery explosion after his family’s 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee was rear-ended by a pickup truck, the auto defects injury attorneys at Butler Prather LLP sprang into action. Butler Prather LLP won a $150 million lawsuit on behalf of the Walden family in Georgia. Although a lower court later reduced the damages to $40 million, the verdict was a huge victory for consumers everywhere.

We’ve Won All Types of Defective Vehicle Cases

Our dedicated Atlanta personal injury attorneys represent clients who have been catastrophically injured and those who have lost loved ones in auto accidents as a result of defective products and vehicles.

The types of automobile defect judgments we have won include:

• Crashworthiness: Auto manufacturers know their vehicles will be involved in crashes, and they have a responsibility to design their cars to protect drivers and passengers from unnecessary death and injuries. This legal principle is referred to as “crashworthiness.” Our firm has won several cases where the structure of the vehicle or some part was not designed and built to effectively protect occupants.
• Tire failure: When tires are poorly designed and manufactured, tread separation and blowouts may cause rollovers and other serious accidents and injuries.
• Air bag defects: Our lawyers are experienced at pursuing claims for injuries caused by airbags that fail and do not go off when they should, airbags that deploy late, and airbags that are too powerful and cause devastating injuries.
• Defective fuel systems: Inadequately designed and manufactured fuel systems can turn relatively minor accidents into major ones by sparking post-collision fires. If a person survives a wreck, they shouldn’t have to worry about being killed or injured in a fire.
• Seat and seat belt defects: When the seats in an automobile are not manufactured to strict crashworthiness standards, they can collapse during a wreck, resulting in injury to those in the seats and to adults and children sitting behind them.
• Rollovers and crushed roofs: Rollovers may be caused by poor SUV design and faulty tires. Injuries are dramatically increased when roofs crush inward due to faulty design.
• Post-collision fires: Jeeps and other vehicles are susceptible to fire because of their fuel tank placement. They have ignited, resulting in serious injuries and death following a collision.
• Brake failure leaves drivers completely helpless on the road. This may be caused by defective pads, loss of brake fluid, bad braking cylinders, and other types of mechanical defects.
• Electric vehicle fires: EV batteries contain highly volatile chemicals. When they catch fire, it causes a phenomenon known as thermal runaway. These fires burn extremely hot, and it takes huge amounts of water to extinguish them. EV fires kill and injure vehicle occupants, and they also cause devastating building fires.
• Sudden acceleration: Mechanical errors and electrical issues lead to an unexpected increase in speed that results in crashes. Design flaws may cause accelerator pedals to stick.
• Steering system failure: Pump malfunction, blocked hoses, contaminated fluid, leaks, and defective power steering belts can all cause a driver to lose control of the vehicle.
• Stalling engines: Lack of airflow, sensor malfunction, low fuel pressure, loss of spark, and defects cause collisions on the roadway, including multiple-vehicle pileups.
• Transmission failure causes the engine to lose power or completely stop working while you are driving, and this can make it impossible to avoid a collision.
• Defective headlights and safety lights. Headlights that are too bright or poorly adjusted have a blinding effect on drivers traveling in the opposite direction. Malfunctioning brake lights, taillights, blinkers, and hazard lights cause collisions when other drivers are not aware of your intentions.

We Know How To Build a Winning Case

It takes a lot of preparation to prevail in court against a major corporation and its team of high-priced attorneys. That’s why we consult with engineers, mechanics, accident scene investigators, doctors, and other experts to pinpoint the true cause of your injuries. When called upon to testify, our experts know how to clearly explain complex technical issues to a jury.

Our investigators will go to the accident scene and collect the information necessary to build a strong case on your behalf. We can also file an injunction to prevent others from hiding or damaging evidence.

We rely on the following resources:

• Crash investigation reports
• Accident scene photos
• Surveillance camera video
• Medical records
• Witness interviews
• Expert testimony
• Accident reconstructions
• Physical and forensic evidence
• Vehicle inspection and maintenance records
• Electronic logging devices (a truck’s “black box”)
• Internal company documents

Compensation for Injuries Caused by Automobile Defects

Nothing can make up for the harm that you and your loved ones have suffered. But our Atlanta and Columbus auto product liability attorneys can win a verdict that allows you to start putting your life back together after a senseless accident.

An Atlanta defective automobile parts lawsuit seeks the following types of damages:

• Current and future medical expenses
• Disfigurement
• Ambulance transport
• Loss of income
• Emergency room treatment
• Medical devices
• Reconstructive surgery
• Rehabilitation
• Physical therapy
• Loss of earning potential
• Occupational therapy
• Wheelchair ramps for your home
• Reduced quality of life
• Pain and suffering
• Assisted living care
• Wrongful death

Injuries Caused by Auto Defects in Atlanta, GA

Safe drivers take precautions to avoid harming themselves and others. You follow the speed limit, obey traffic laws, avoid tailgating, and make sure to signal lane changes in advance. But even the most careful driver will be caught off guard by an auto defect that causes the vehicle to stop working properly.

When a vehicle suddenly stops due to a transmission failure, a fuel line problem, or an electrical malfunction, the driver becomes a sitting duck. It’s not advisable to exit your vehicle in a situation like this, and all you can do is turn on your hazard lights and hope for the best.

You may not be aware that you’re driving a car with auto defects when you suffer the consequences of an automaker’s careless behavior. For example, tire blowouts cause drivers to lose control of the vehicle, veering across traffic and crashing into others. These accidents may impact several drivers and their passengers.

Injuries caused by auto defects include:

• Amputation. An accident victim’s toe, foot, leg, finger, hand, or arm may be completely severed due to an accident, or doctors may have to remove an appendage when physical trauma such as a crush injury causes irreparable harm to bones, tendons, and blood vessels, making it impossible to successfully reattach the body part.
• Severe burns result from explosions that may occur after a collision with a vehicle that is experiencing a fuel leak. EV battery fires may burn EV occupants and spread to other vehicles. Severe burns that penetrate the skin destroy hard and soft tissue, causing permanent damage to bones, ligaments, and internal organs.
• Whiplash occurs when the victim’s head is suddenly thrown forward and then back. This often results when a disabled vehicle gets rear-ended. Symptoms of whiplash include severe pain, headaches, ringing in the ears, and difficulty sleeping. The vehicle that hits you doesn’t have to be traveling at a high rate of speed for whiplash to occur.
• Hearing loss results when a person’s inner ear tissue is damaged by an automobile crash. Hearing loss makes it difficult to communicate with others, causing feelings of loneliness and isolation.
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from a severe blow to the head or upper body. It causes paralysis, seizures, reduced muscle control, memory loss, anxiety, slurred speech, loss of vision, and mood changes.
• Nerve damage is often overlooked after an automobile collision. It can be difficult to diagnose, and the effects may not be apparent right away. Symptoms include numbness, a tingling sensation, dropping objects, muscle weakness, shooting pain, and intense headaches.
• Bone fractures caused by the intense impact of an automobile collision are debilitating and may cause chronic pain, particularly when they involve the vertebrae, clavicle, fibula, sternum, ribs, crania, or pelvic bones.
• Vision loss may result when the victim’s optic nerve is damaged by the physical trauma of a car crash. This is one of the most psychologically painful and frustrating injuries because it prevents people from engaging in activities they enjoy, and it limits your sense of independence.
• Internal organ damage causes nausea, loss of function, swelling, and internal bleeding.

Who Is Liable for Your Atlanta Auto Defect Accident Injuries?

Everyone has a duty of care to avoid committing actions that cause reasonably foreseeable harm to others. Automobile manufacturers breach their duty of care when they fail to adequately test their products before releasing them on the marketplace. Carmakers compound the problem when they stubbornly refuse to recall and fix vehicles with defects that cause accidents that result in catastrophic injuries.

Anyone who was involved in the process of making or selling a vehicle with hazardous defects may be held liable for the injuries that result. This includes:

• Vehicle manufacturers
• Marketers
• Designers
• Sellers and distributors
• Manufacturers of defective components

We’ve Won Billions for Our Clients

At Butler Prather LLP, we’re not intimidated by anybody. If a big auto manufacturer is responsible for the harm you suffered, we’ll pursue justice for you and your family.

Our Atlanta product liability lawyers understand how important your case is to you. That’s why Butler Prather LLP always has time for our clients, and we will always treat you and your family with respect and compassion.

Call (706) 322-1990 to learn more today.

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Atlanta Office:
12 Lenox Pointe NE
Atlanta, GA 30324

Additional Information

• Electric Vehicle and E-Bike Batteries Can Cause Fires and Injuries
• Strict liability in product auto defect lawsuits