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,
