At Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP, our Cleveland-based trial lawyers have dedicated their careers to using the civil justice system as a vehicle for outing injustice and abuse, especially when it results from corporations that prioritize profits over people. Over the years we have spent representing the injured and the wronged throughout Ohio and the U.S., we have been able to effectively hold corporations, insurance companies, financial institutions, and government entities accountable for inexcusable practices that compromise public safety and consumer rights – and have recovered more than $1 billion on behalf of our clients.
Our victories in the various cases we handle are driven by our legal team’s passion for making individuals who have been victimized, injured, and wronged whole again. However, that would never have been possible without the civil justice system – which provides the arena for plaintiffs to make their voices heard, secure justice, and expose shortcuts and deception that harm the public and numerous individuals.
As part of fighting for our clients, we also fight for the rights of the public at large and strive to contribute to changes that can prevent patterns of corporate injustice from harming others. This includes corporations that continually shirk their responsibilities and violate or disregard regulations. Here are just a few ways civil lawsuits can become such a powerful tool in the cases we handle:
- Product Liability – Our experience in cases involving unsafe drugs and products includes numerous product liability lawsuits filed against manufacturers and others who fail to ensure the safety of publically available products. As we have seen time and time again, dangerous drugs and defective products have the ability to cause harm when manufacturers, pharmaceutical corporations, and other corporate entities are driven by profits rather than the health and safety of consumers. Product liability claims have tremendous potential for exposing corporate shortcuts, including dangerous shortcuts in the manufacturing of products and testing of drugs and consumer goods. It can also reveal unacceptable practices in the marketing of products, especially in the case of dangerous drugs where pharmaceutical companies heavily push prescriptions despite their knowledge of grave risks.
- Personal Injury – Personal injury lawsuits, which include product liability claims, are filed by victims who have been injured due to the negligent or wrongful acts of others. In some cases, these injuries are a direct result of business decisions that fail to include reasonable measures for keeping others safe. This not only includes the actions of manufacturers who make dangerous drugs and products, but also property owners who fail to address known hazards or ensure safe working environments, nursing homes that fall short in providing the care and safe environments residents deserve, and even transportation companies that look to maximize their profits at the expense of innocent individuals with whom they share the road, among many others.
- Class Actions – Class action lawsuits allow groups of wronged or injured individuals to join together in exposing a common practice or misrepresentation that caused them harm. These practices are commonly the result of corporate shortcuts, including those involving violations of employee rights, defective products, and unlawful practices of financial service providers. Exposing these shortcuts and injustices through class action lawsuits is critical to not only making victims whole, but also to raising awareness and compelling corporations to take decisive action in making changes.
Not all civil lawsuits result from corporate shortcuts – many are the result of negligence and failures to abide by legal duties. However, when the conduct and failures or corporations do play a role in contributing to injustice and injuries, the stakes are elevated. That’s because they are commonly widespread practices with the potential to harm numerous individuals, and because corporate powers are unlikely to discontinue those practices if they are not held accountable and compelled to do the right thing by legal action taken against them.
If you have a civil legal case you wish to discuss, we invite you to learn more about the types of cases we handle on our website, or to contact us for a free review of your case.
