Brian D. Chase

Newport Beach • Personal Injury

Brian D. Chase has litigated and tried auto defect cases across the U.S. His work has involved spending millions of dollars on testing to uncover various auto defects in everyday vehicles. Moreover, he has proposed inexpensive alternative designs aimed at preventing countless fatalities and injuries that result from such defects.

Among his recent work, he was as lead counsel in the Ford Explorer/Police Interceptor carbon monoxide litigation. He uncovered that Ford chose to alter its internal carbon monoxide concentration standard instead of addressing and rectifying the defect in the Police Interceptor model. He was the first to file these cases in the U.S. and represents affected police officers in various states, including California, Louisiana and Florida. These cases, including McDowell v. Ford, were set to head to trial in September.

One of Chase's landmark victories was the $24.7 million verdict in Romine v. Johnson Controls in 2012. In this case, he successfully persuaded the court to use the consumer expectation test to prove the vehicle's defect, a significant accomplishment in California law since 1978. This approach allowed Chase to exclude potentially prejudicial evidence.

"In any seat back case in California where a person is catastrophically injured or killed, my Romine opinion is stare decisis and the trial courts hands are bound by this opinion. It will make it significantly easier and a much more level playing field for all plaintiffs' attorney to prove defect in these cases," Chase said.

Despite his achievements, he acknowledges the significant challenges faced in his line of work. The auto industry has persistently opposed the use of the consumer expectation test.

"The challenge was and is huge. The auto industry hates this law," Chase said. "Every auto manufacturer and auto supplier petitioned the California Supreme Court to depublish the opinion back in 2014. As stated above, all case law since 1978 said it was an appropriate test to use to prove defect, but not one single published opinion in California upheld a verdict using it. I have the only one. I have faced that argument for over 20 years until my Romine opinion. Until then, a major uphill battle."

Chase continued: "If this case gets reversed or whittled down, it will be devastating for those that fight so hard to protect the consumers of California who, through no fault of their own drive in defective vehicles. This is the trend that concerns me daily. I offer to assist these attorneys for free and to argue the motions for free to keep this law alive and well."