David J. O’Connell

Industry Contributions

David has written numerous articles about product liability claims and spoliation of evidence defenses for professional journals, including the International Defense Counsel publication, IDC Quarterly.

• The Product Defense Attorney At The Fire Scene, DRI Fire Science and Litigation Seminar, January 2013
• Defending Product Liability Cases in Illinois after the Best Decision, IDC Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1998).
• Federal Preemption Defenses in Product Liability Cases, IDC Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1996).
• Recognizing and Asserting the Spoliation Defense, Product Liability Update, Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, Vol. 1, No. 2 (July, 1996).

Notable Cases

• Crawford v. Sears, Roebuck & Company, 295 F.3d 884 (8th Cir. 2002): In this case, the plaintiff sued the seller of a ladder manufactured at least 20 years before it buckled laterally, throwing the plaintiff to the ground. The Eighth Circuit ruled for the defense, finding that there was insufficient evidence of negligence or defect, as the plaintiff offered no evidence to exclude other forces that might have affected the ladder during its long pre-injury history.
• Roback v. VIP Transport, Inc., 90 F.3d 1207 (7th Cir. 1996): This case hinged on Daubert rule admission of an engineer’s expert methodology involving analysis of a vehicle accident.
• Randall v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 284 Ill. App. 3d 970, 673 N.E.2d 452 (4th Dist. 1996): This case dealt with recovery of damages for a workplace injury under the Illinois Structural Work Act, which the legislature repealed after the plaintiff’s suit was filed.
• Allstate Insurance Co. v. Sunbeam Corporation, 53 F.3d 804 (7th Cir. 1995): This case hinged on spoliation of evidence issues.
• Hornyak v. National Presto Industries, 1995 WL 239104 (N.D. Ill.): Summary judgment was awarded to an appliance manufacturer under theories of failure to warn and defective design involving a deep fat fryer.
• Shelbyville Mutual Insurance Co. v. Sunbeam Leisure Products Co., 262 Ill. App. 3d 636, 634 N.E.2d1317 (5th Dist. 1994): This case hinged on a spoliation of evidence issue involving whether an expert witness handled the product in a fire case in a way that denied the defendant the means to demonstrate an alternative cause of the fire.
• Nielson v. United Service Automobile Association, 244 Ill. App. 3d 658, 612 N.E.2d 526 (2nd Dist. 1994): In this case, the court held that under Illinois law, an agent has no duty to obtain "adequate" insurance, establishing that an insurer has no obligation to provide coverage for the full amount of any possible damages.

Professional Affiliations

• Illinois State Bar Association
• Defense Research Institute