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Product liabilty lawsuit settled

Ibe week before the start of a scheduled three week jury trial, the law firm of Cunningham Bounds, LLC obtained a $46,000,000 settlement for its clients, Bender Shipbuilding and Repair Company, Inc. and an international ship operator, in a product liability lawsuit filed against Caterpillar, Inc. for an explosion and fire caused by a defective engine onboard the "Seacor Sherman", a ship that was under construction at the time and was completely rebuilt as "Keith Cowan" after having been towed to Eastern shipyard in Panama City, Florida. In October 2005, Bender Shipbuilding entered into a contract with the ship operator for the construction of a series of vessels, including the "Seacor Sherman". The contract price for the vessel was almost $ 27 million. On May 14, 2008, while the vessel was still under construction, one of its 3516B Caterpillar marine engines threw a rod during routine testing, causing a massive fire that burned the ship to its hull. Everyone who was on the ship at the time of the explosion was safely evacuated. In their lawsuit, the Plaintiffs alleged that the Caterpillar engine installed on the "Seacor Sherman" was defective at the time of its original manufacture and delivery. The engine that failed weighed 17,000 pounds, had thousands of parts, was the size of a commercial truck, and was severely damaged in the fuel fed fire that burned for almost 24 hours. Discovery in the lawsuit revealed that the engine failure was caused by a missing oil plug. The missing plug was the size of a nickel, and had been left out of the crankshaft in the innermost part of the engine when it was manufactured. The missing oil plug starved part of the engine of oil, which led to the engine’s catastrophic failure. The litigation took place in four courts, involved 40 depositions, required the testimony of over a dozen retained experts, and lasted for almost four years. The Cunningham Bounds attorneys Steve Olen and Steve Nicholas handled the initial proceedings in the federal district and bankruptcy courts. Specifically, they fought and won critical battles over the appropriate forum for the litigation and which laws should apply. Report with photo: http://en.portnews.ru/news/181911/