Man Injured By Allegedly Defective Exercise Equipment

This case involves a 32-year-old male plaintiff who was injured by a doorway pull-up bar in his home. As the plaintiff was using the bar, the bar cracked and fell off the door frame, causing the plaintiff to break his leg and shatter his kneecap. The weight limit for this product was allegedly 250 pounds but the plaintiff only weighed 170 pounds. The product had been purchased 6 months prior it breaking. It was alleged that a design flaw contributed to this accident. An expert in product design and failure analysis was sought to opine on the incident and determine if the product was defective.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please briefly describe your experience with product design and failure analysis for sporting goods or related products.

Expert Witness Response E-064616

I have experience in failure analysis of materials and finding the root cause of failure due to flaws in design and/or materials defects. As a university professor, I teach and research in areas of materials mechanical properties, product design and development, and materials engineering. I have worked as an expert witness in several failure analysis cases. For this particular case, I would need to inspect evidence and examine any fractured part by a scanning electron microscope.

Expert Bio:

This engineering expert has a master's degree in metallurgical engineering and a Ph.D. in industrial metallurgy. He has worked as a professor of mechanical engineering and engineering technology since 1987 and currently is tenured at a public university in Texas. In addition, he actively consults and has worked on several failure analysis cases as an expert witness in the area of defects in materials, corrosion, materials selection, and manufacturing processes.