Product Liability Settlements
Union City Man Awarded $2.3 Million in Bowflex Settlement
Attorneys Randall Phillips, formerly with Hill-Boren, and Jeff Boyd represented a Union City man who was permanently injured by his Bowflex weight system. An Obion County jury awarded over $2,300,000 to the injured man. The 58-year old man bought a Bowflex Power Pro weight system in May 2000. Unknown to him, the backboard benches in this machine were made of cheap, thin plywood covered in foam. The company had never done any design or testing on the backboard benches to determine if they could withstand the loads that a person working out on the machine would exert.
In December 2002, the plaintiff was working out as directed on the manual and the backboard bench snapped and threw his head down and forward causing a severe herniated disc in his neck. He underwent surgery but remained with severe nerve damage causing decreased use of his right arm. As a result of his chronic pain, he is going to be on a high dose of narcotic medication for the rest of his life, which affects his mental ability and daily activities to the point that he can no longer work.
In trial, it was shown that Bowflex was aware for over a year that these benches were failing and causing severe injury. Rather than stopping the sales, they continued to market, manufacture and sell the defective products. Only after this injury did Bowflex attempt to correct their product. Two years later they did a voluntary recall of over 400,000 of these products.
It was brought out in the trial that the design fix that would have prevented this injury cost $6.90 to make, yet the company chose to keep selling the machines as is. After considering the evidence in a two week trial, the jury awarded the plaintiff $328,000 in compensatory damages. Based on the evidence Mr. Boyd presented showing the misdeeds of Bowflex in selling these products when they knew that they were defective, the jury awarded $2,000,000 in punitive damages.
Young Boy Killed by Daisy BB Gun
Attorney T. Robert Hill represented the parents of a 10-year-old boy who was shot in the head and killed by a BB fired from a Daisy BB gun. Attorney Robert M. Cearley of Little Rock, Arkansas, assisted Mr. Hill in the case. Hill Boren and their clients believed Daisy was responsible for the death of the child by manufacturing and marketing a product that, when used as intended, was capable of killing a child. The case was settled prior to trial for a confidential sum.
$250,000 Settlement for Defective Television Fire 

A forty year-old woman and her three year-old son were sleeping in their home in Shelby County, Tennessee when a fire started. The fire was caused by their defective Matsushita/Quasar television. Unfortunately, the woman and her son both died from the fire. Hill Boren fought the television manufacturer and won a $250,000 settlement for the grieving family.
$190,000 Settlement for Defective Buckle
A twenty-seven year-old male lost partial sight in his right eye when a plastic buckle on his canvas Jeep top broke and struck him in the eye. Hill Boren represented the injured young man and he was awarded a $190,000 lump sum settlement in Greene County, Tennessee.
Burn Victim Awarded $6.5 Million Settlement

A fifty year-old Shelby County man suffered burns over 70% of his body when a defective acetylene cylinder that his son was using caught fire and exploded. Mr. Robert Hill of Hill Boren and Mr. Ralph Chapman of Chapman, Lewis & Swan of Clarksdale, Mississippi represented the victim in his lawsuit against the largest cylinder manufacturer in the world. The first trial ended in a verdict for manufacturer, but, seeing the injustice, Mr. Hill and Mr. Chapman took an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The case was reversed and sent back for retrial in federal court in Memphis. The two-week trial resulted in a jury verdict for the victim and his wife (then ex-wife) of $6,500,000. The cylinder manufacturer settled without appeal. The $6.5 million settlement is believed to be largest single injury verdict in Shelby County history. $500,000 was awarded to his ex-wife and is the largest loss of companionship jury verdict in West Tennessee.