DRI member John L. Tate, of Stites & Harbison PLLC, practicing from Louisville, Kentucky, won a defense verdict for Leatt Corporation in Scarvelli v. Leatt Corporation (Case No. 1:12-CV-00483), a product liability lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio after a two-week trial ending April 17, 2014. Plaintiffs Scott Scarvelli and his parents, Tim and Sherri Scarvelli, alleged that defective product design and failure to warn caused fifteen-year-old motocross rider Scott Scarvelli to suffer multiple spine fractures, causing immediate and permanent paraplegia, when he crashed his dirt bike at a relatively low speed. The accident occurred February 13, 2011. Now eighteen and a high school senior, Scott is almost certain to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. When the accident occurred, Scott was riding a 250cc motorcycle during a practice session at an indoor motocross track in suburban Cleveland. On his second lap of the morning, while still assessing the track's layout, Scott mis-timed a jump and was thrown head first over the handlebars, spearing into the track's surface with the top of his helmet. In addition to his helmet and other safety gear, Scott was wearing a neck protection device known as the Leatt-Brace.
Dr. Chris Leatt, a South African physician and motorcycle enthusiast, invented and patented the Leatt-Brace to help reduce catastrophic neck injuries in extreme sports. Intended to be worn with a full-face helmet, the Leatt-Brace is designed to reduce extreme ranges of neck motion and create an Alternative Load Path for forces inflicted on unrestrained motorcycle, ATV, mountain bike, snowboard, and snowmobile riders. The plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Leatt's neck brace inappropriately restricts head movement, and during crashes, it focuses high loads on the wearer's thoracic spine. Leatt Corporation produced evidence that Scott Scarvelli's thoracic paraplegia was an unavoidable consequence of his fall, not the result of wearing a Leatt-Brace, and that the brace likely saved his life—or saved him from quadriplegia—by preventing cervical spine injury.
Previously published in The Voice, DRI, July 16, 2014
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