Towing wreck - overloaded hitch

All this stuff *WILL* be gone over with a fine toothed comb...by BOTH sides...

Lawyers on both sides will try to twist the facts to fit whatever position
they are trying to get the jury to agree with

Expert witnesses will be hired by both sides to both forensically go
over the data gathered and to hypothesize for the side that hired them
trying to convince the jury their side is right

They will actually weigh stuff and carefully note them. They will take
parts to laboratories for testing to confirm they met spec. The condition
of various systems/components will be reviewed by experts in that field.
All will be both PE's and ME's, plus whatever discipline is deemed
required or appropriate

Yes, the press will overly hype the pictures and data

This is where the OEMs shine. As they have had lawyers on the design
teams since inception...all the way to the final decisions on where the
various ratings will be listed. Why they chose those ratings and must
be backed up with real test data. What the manuals, labels and
marketing collateral will say

They will also have all of the regulatory agency certification tests
frozen and copied for both sides of the case. This includes all engineering
and ancillary design team members note books seized and copied for
both sides. Many of these will have whole pages/sections/words/etc
blacked out (actually cut out of those copies) as 'company proprietary'

'Company Proprietary' can be disclosed, but only on very, very tight
NDA's and only to certain parties. Normally 3rd parties that will then
sum it up to whomever they are sided with...but...no details

Insurance will become a HUGE factor and they all have a very, very
large staff of lawyers. Plus hired guns (attack lawyers)

Much, much, much more will be going on...and on...and on...



How do I know this?



I've been sued 4 separate times for wrongful death. My startups and
me personally (named partner, on all documentation as one or all:
designed by, drawn by, checked by, approved by)


NONE of them went to court, but the other's named on the suit's did
and two lost HUGE.

My insurance loved the level of engineering documentation and design
team documentation. Ditto the level of detail from the certification
agencies (both the agencies and the various 3rd parties we hired
to test...we were small and had no on site facilities to do those
tests)

Since I was also named as an individual in these suits...they said
they'd cover me and if they didn't, then might/will lose everything
plus jail time

Was deposed once and the other three dropped their suit against us
once they got the brunt of the documentation. That one deposition was
them trying to get me involved with the design of the mechanicals of
that accident (ski lift/gondola...we just supplied the controls and
electronics/electricals)

This is in part, why cringe whenever read someone advising that it is
OK to go over the ratings...that they've been doing it with no issues
for decades/100's of thousands of miles


{edit}...must add a ditto for those contemplating tuners. Risk is that
on 'highly integrated' systems...they touched or affected...and resultant
effect is flaky behavior of an associated system (like ABS, or Traction Control, etc)



Most will NEVER cross these bridges...but they are out there and some
other guy does cross those bridges...