Sheckells v. AGV Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
987 F.2d 1532 (1993)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
John Sheckells lost control of his motorcycle after striking debris on the road and suffered permanent injuries when his helmet impacted the road. John’s father, Charles Sheckells (plaintiff) brought suit against the helmet’s manufacturer, AGV Corporation (AGV) (defendant), alleging that the helmet was defectively designed and that AGV failed to provide warnings that the helmet would not provide protection from certain reasonably foreseeable impacts. AGV filed a motion for summary judgment. In opposition to the motion, Sheckells provided the expert testimony of Dr. Joseph L. Burton, the chief medical examiner for the City of Atlanta. Dr. Burton testified, in reference to the failure to warn claim, that helmet impact tests were conducted at speeds of only 15-20 miles per hour and that no motorcycle helmet on the market provided protection from injuries at speeds between 30-45 miles per hour. Dr. Burton further testified that the average helmet purchaser would not know those facts. The district court granted AGV’s motion for summary judgment and Sheckell’s appealed only on the failure to warn claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Birch, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 779,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
