Don’t let it explode. For decades, companies have designed their gas-powered generators to prevent spontaneous combustion. However, one such manufacturer ignored over 40 warranty claims, in which customers complained of over-pressurized gas tanks failing to vent. Despite the complaints, the company issued a recall only recently — too late to avert disaster. Concurrently, six young workers at a dam ended their day by putting away their tools in a storage trailer. As they wrapped up, they noticed that the gas-powered generator they used to power their office trailer had expanded to twice its normal size. They shut off the generator, but gasoline burst from the tank, splashing the men. Then, the liquid ignited. Within a split second, flames engulfed all six workers, torching them like matchsticks. Swarmed in flames, the men rushed into the nearby river.
First responders fished the burned men out of the water. The men had been fortunate to survive the explosion, but each of them had sustained deep, horrific burns. The worker closest to the explosion had suffered burns to over 90% of his body, while another had 65% of his body charred. The severity of their injuries meant a lifetime of medical care and the inability to ever work again. Each was a blue-collar worker, and most were in their 20s, having only recently started families. The explosion robbed each of them of their occupations, saddling them instead with a lifetime of pain.
While all six men were still in the burn unit, a lawyer referred their cases to Aidan Carickhoff, a trial lawyer at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Trial Lawyers. Aidan had experience handling catastrophic injury cases and specialized in cases involving explosions. From the outset, he took a fast and aggressive approach to obtaining discovery. He seized as many witness statements as he could and took over 70 depositions, including from OSHA, ATF, the fire marshal, and police. He identified multiple defendants, including the generator’s manufacturer and retailers, as well as the construction company responsible for workplace safety. He inundated them all with discovery requests and gathered over 75,000 pages of documents. He unearthed 11 years of warranty claims regarding the generator’s fuel tank pressurizing.
The defense threw up barriers at every turn, denying discovery and claiming attorney-client privilege. They also took a circuitous position of maximal denial: the generator wasn’t their product, but if it were, it hadn’t failed, and if it did fail, it was the plaintiff’s fault. Complicating matters further, the explosion had decimated the generator. Only a few scraps of metal had survived. Aidan needed to find a way to prove that the valve was faulty despite the evidence having been blown to smithereens.
Aidan gathered together world-class experts in thermodynamics, product failure, product production, product design, engineering, and workplace safety. He knew that without the faulty generator, he would need animations to reconstruct both the product defect and the accident. Early in the discovery process, he brought DK Global aboard. Throughout the production process, the animators worked with Aidan’s team of experts and engineers to ensure the fidelity of every detail.
The DK Global animations totaled over 35 minutes. The first set of animations recreated the generator explosion and each man’s reaction as they caught fire. A 3D model of the generator showed how a design flaw in the ball bearing vent caused the gas tank to pressurize. This was compared to a model of a new Dorman valve, which would have averted the accident had it been used instead. The second set of animations illustrated the differences between first- through fourth-degree burns. Full-body models of each victim illustrated the severity and coverage of their burns. Photos of their injuries accompanied the models. Surgical reenactments demonstrated how their skin was debrided and artificially grafted. The third set of animations presented the 11-year timeline of 40 warranty claims regarding the faulty generator.
Aidan rejected all of the defense’s attempts at early mediation as he readied the case for trial. Once fully prepared, he presented the defense with a 120-page mediation statement that led with the animations. Upon seeing the visuals, the defendants realized how devastating trial would be for them. The multi-day mediation ended in a confidential nine-figure settlement, the largest in Pennsylvania court history. One of the clients had also received the largest individual pretrial settlement in state history. When Aidan delivered the news, every single man cried and expressed that the outcome was beyond anything they could have ever imagined for themselves.
Aidan Carickhoff, a partner at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Trial Lawyers, has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of his clients. He has handled wrongful death, medical malpractice, birth injury, workplace accident, and burn and explosion cases. Aidan was inducted into the Order of the Barristers, a national honors organization for top advocates, and honored as his graduating class’s Best Advocate. He has been named on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars List since 2023.
