He claims 2 million dollars from Trek and Shimano for impaling his leg on the brake lever
Lawsuits in the United States are commonplace. A crash, poor service, an accident, any reason is valid to take someone or some company to court. In fact, who doesn't remember the millionaire cases against tobacco companies that uncovered the use of substances to make the product more addictive and marked the beginning of restrictions on this product. Now it has been the bicycle industry that has been accused following an accident suffered by a citizen of Rhode Island.
Shimano's brake lever design on trial
Trek and Shimano will have to answer to the justice system for the accusations made by Timothy Lynch, a resident of Rhode Island who ended up with the Shimano brake lever of his Trek bicycle embedded in his leg in an accident.
Lynch accuses both brands of up to 17 charges, including negligent design. According to him, the V brake levers were metallic and thin at the end, so when he fell off the bike, it ended up embedded in his thigh, causing him a deep wound of 30 centimeters in his left leg.
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This meant that Lynch had to be taken to the hospital, where he stayed for 10 days during which he underwent 3 surgeries and a skin graft, despite which, he has been left with numbness in his leg and a significant scar.
This type of lawsuits are very common in the United States, especially considering that there healthcare is tremendously expensive and insurance companies try to avoid any expense that is out of the ordinary, such as that caused by a bike fall like the one suffered by Timothy Lynch. All those days and surgeries are very likely to be outside of his health insurance, so even though it may seem absurd to most of us to go to court against two large companies, in many cases this person may have no other option but to pay an unaffordable amount.
In fact, Lynch's lawyers have stated that their client has requested compensation of 2 million dollars in damages, precisely, with the aim among other aspects of covering medical expenses in addition to compensating for all the aftermath and period without being able to work. To this end, the argument will focus on the fact that the products provided by Shimano are poorly designed and that Trek did not inspect, evaluate or warn of the risks of these V-Brake levers before installing them.
In any case, neither Shimano nor Trek have commented on this lawsuit which is still in the process of being processed.