Attorney Daryl Lewis Discusses Negligence & Product Defects

🎥 Apr 07, 2015 📺 Searcy Law Video ⏱ 3m 👁 148 views

Daryl Lewis, Florida accident attorney, discusses the discovery of a defect in GM's ignition switch through the investigation of a ...

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About Darryl Lewis

In a 2015 appearance, attorney Darryl Lewis discussed negligence and product defect law, using General Motors' ignition switch recall as an example. Lewis stated that negligence occurs when someone fails to use appropriate care to protect public safety, and that a product is defective if it is unreasonably dangerous to users or bystanders. He said that General Motors had a defective ignition switch in older models such as the Cobalt, which could cause the vehicle to shut off, lose power steering, and experience brake failure, and that many people died as a result. Lewis also said that General Motors knew about the problem as early as 2004 but covered it up and did not disclose it to the public. He noted that Congress launched an investigation and that former federal prosecutor Anton Valukis was assigned to the case. Lewis described a specific case in which a young girl died due to the defect, and said that the lawyer hired by her family discovered that General Motors had known about the issue for approximately ten years without taking action.

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Transcript (4 segments)

Darryl Lewis0:00

Negligence is a law. When someone is negligent and they don't use the appropriate care to protect the safety of the public, that individual is negligent and that individual has broken the law.

In addition, when a product maker makes a product and that product is unreasonably dangerous to the person using the product, or even a person that's near someone who is using the product, and that product hurts or injures someone, that product is unreasonably dangerous and it's defective. And if a company manufactures a product that has a defect in it that makes that product unreasonably dangerous, that is against the law and it breaks the law.

Recently it has come to light that one of our biggest product makers in America, in the world, General Motors, had a product in their car, some of their cars, some of their older model cars, Cobalt and a few of their older model cars, had ignition switches that were defective. And those ignition switches could cause the vehicle to just shut off. It could cause the power steering to stop working. It could cause ineffective braking and the brakes not to work at all. And as a result of that defect, we have learned that many people have died because of that defect in that General Motors product.

Now we have learned recently that General Motors knew about the problem with its ignition switch in these older model cars back in 2004, and it was covered up and not disclosed to the public. And recently Congress started an investigation, and a former federal prosecutor by the name of Anton Valukis was assigned to investigate what happened in this particular situation. And it came to light that there was a case where a young girl was killed because of the defect in this product, and her family went to a lawyer to help them find out what happened to this product, to cause the death of this child. And within the confines of that case, that lawyer who that family hired to help find out what happened learned that General Motors had known about this problem some 10 years ago and failed to act and do anything about it.