Personal injury/Products Liability

Schirrmeister Diaz-Arrastia Brem has unparalleled experience and depth in personal injury litigation. Our practice covers every aspect of products liability including negligence, strict liability, warranty and consumer statute actions. We practice in state and federal courts throughout the country and have tried many significant cases. Our practice includes the representations of manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, chemicals and petrochemicals, automotive products, medical equipment, pesticides, heavy equipment, building industry products, and many other products.

Our firm is particularly skillful at handling multi-defendant cases in state courts in Texas wherein contribution, statutory and common law indemnity, joint and several liability, partial settlements, Mary Carter agreements and other strategies can dramatically alter the landscape at trial. We also represent on a highly selective basis (through lawyer referrals) plaintiffs' personal injury cases involving catastrophic injuries.

Among our representative engagements and clients are:

• Acting as lead national counsel for E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the defense of suits claiming damages from exposure to benzene. As part of this representation, we appear as lead counsel in trials and appeals throughout the United States.
• Defending a paint manufacturer in an Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) death suit brought by the survivors of an auto body-shop technician. After a three week trial, the jury returned a no liability verdict.
• Defending an airline in a lawsuit that arose after a plane crash along the Mexico-United States border. The San Antonio Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s denial of our client’s challenge to the jurisdiction; the San Antonio Court of Appeals thereupon dismissed our client from this very serious personal injury case involving ten deaths.
• Winning the largest settlement ever paid to date by Hyundai Motor Company and Nippon Seiko in a wrongful death case arising from a defective three-point passive seatbelt.
• Successfully defending a transportation company in a five-week trial in Texas State Court which resulted in a $13 million verdict against the only other co-defendant.
• Defending physicians and hospitals in medical negligence actions including brain-damaged infants, failure to diagnose lung and breast cancer, and other significant medical conditions.
• Representing major corporations in asbestos cases including numerous lung cancer and methesioloma cases.
• Obtaining a $3.8 million settlement for the family of a worker killed at a construction site. The case involved multiple defendants, multiple procedural and venue challenges and multiple theories of liability against premises owners, product manufacturers and insurers.
• Obtaining a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of a paralyzed child against an apartment complex owner.
• Obtaining five separate settlements totaling several millions of dollars involving allegations of seatbelt design defects against major domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers.
• Obtaining a six figure settlement against a domestic automobile manufacturer for failure to install a headrest in a light truck.