Baxter vs. J& V Investments, Group, et al.

Tire Defect/Wrongful Death of Unmarried Child- On July 29, 2001, while traveling westbound on Interstate 10 through Indio, California, 21-year-old plaintiff Garek Baxter, along with his 18-year-old best friend as passenger, experienced an unexpected catastrophic right-rear tire blow-out which caused the vehicle in which they were traveling to veer off the highway, rolling over numerous times. During the roll-over sequence, both young men were thrown from the vehicle and died. At the time of the incident, the 21-year-old plaintiff was one of the top pitching prospects in all of Major League Baseball. Attorney William M. Berman represented the parents of the 21-year-old professional athlete as lead counsel, filing suit against several defendants, including the installer of the tire, the manufacturer of the tire, and the distributors of the tire for the wrongful death of their son due to catastrophic tire failure. In addition to wrongful death damages, Attorney William M. Berman claimed the parents were entitled to compensatory damages under a Loss of Contribution theory of recovery. In support of this difficult and seldom-advanced claim, Mr. Berman relied upon the testimony of several respected baseball executives, including renowned Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane, to support the contention that the deceased athlete had a substantial likelihood of advancing to, and having a successful career at, the major league level. The case settled after two full days of mediation with defendants agreeing to pay decedent’s parents a total of $6,842,857.10 in resolution of their claims.