Catastrophic Loss Attorney in Austin, Texas
Can you tell us about a memorable catastrophic injury case you handled?
Can you tell us about a memorable catastrophic injury case you handled?
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you know one of the most
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significant cases i’ve ever been
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involved in
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was
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due to a horrific house fire that
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occurred two sisters
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were visiting one lived in the home
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and one was visiting they both had
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young children
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six between them
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it was winter and so it was cold
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and there was a device
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a a heater
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air conditioner combination device
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well
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it was wired into the wall and the
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device that was used to wire it into the
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wall was defective
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as a result it created
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this intense heating where the
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electrical current was going through the
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device and because the device was
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defectively manufactured and defectively
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designed
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it melted
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and caught
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the couch on fire that was
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in front of it
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the home went up in flames
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one of the sisters was asleep on a on
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the couch this was in the middle of the
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night and one of the sisters was asleep
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on the couch in the living room
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and was woken up by the smoke and she
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got up and told her sister who woke up
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the other young children in the house
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they two six-year-old twins
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and 11 and
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12 year olds
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the twins got up and ran towards the
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front of the house and
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one of the sisters opened the front door
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so they could get out and by doing that
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she unwittingly let air in that fueled
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the fire the living room exploded in the
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flames
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both twins were horribly burned
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one
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survived
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72 days before he died
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his twin sister was burned on 40 percent
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of her body
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two of their other
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siblings
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hidden closets and died from smoke
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inhalation the device
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was
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a surface mounted electrical outlet
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and for years had been made by a small
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electrical equipment company in new york
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city
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where they paid a living wage to the
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workers to make that device
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well a larger electrical supply company
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bought that small company in new york
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and decided they were going to make this
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product
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less expensively so they fired everybody
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in new york they moved the manufacturing
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to mexico city they hired lower wage
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employees they used a lower grade
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plastic material they eliminated the
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quality control steps to ensure that the
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product was made correctly and the
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reason i know all of that is because i
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actually went to mexico city and
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inspected the manufacturing process i
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watched what they did and how they did
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it
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and learned that they were substituting
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in
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a cheaper plastic material with a lower
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burn threshold had the material that was
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used by the original company been used
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to manufacture this device it never
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would have melted even with
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the
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electrical current that was going
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through it think of putting your thumb
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over a yar a garden hose and how you can
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make the water spray well that’s what
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was happening to the electrical current
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going through this device and so it was
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heating up if the plastic had had a
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higher burn threshold it wouldn’t have
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caught on fire
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and that fire wouldn’t have happened
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you know that case resolved very
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successfully for nearly 30 million
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dollars and it should have
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and the two sisters
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who lost these children
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were among the most remarkable clients
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i’ve ever represented they were
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both young women of faith
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and
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despite this unimaginable loss that they
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sustained
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they managed to
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find the strength to go on with their
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lives to to care for the children who
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did survive
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and to to rebuild their lives and to
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continue to have
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faith
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and to be very loving people and they
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still to this day are among
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the most
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cherished clients i’ve ever represented
Austin, TX personal injury attorney Scott Hendler shares the story of a memorable catastrophic injury case he handled.
