An attorney called us with a client who was being sued because a laptop that they had manufactured allegedly overheated and burned the plaintiff’s legs. The client is a tier-one computer manufacturer who had shipped many thousands of this particular model laptop. The main risk of losing or settling this case was that it would open the door to millions of dollars of copycat litigation. We agreed to do a complete thermal analysis of the operation of the laptop under a variety of conditions and circumstances and, if necessary, to try to create a product failure on other identical laptops that would create such a condition
We set about to locate and procure identical copies of that computer while the attorneys worked out an agreement with the plaintiff to send us the laptop in question. While the attorneys agreed on this plan, the plaintiff was reluctant to send the device to us. After some delays, I agreed to go to the plaintiff’s residence and collect the laptop in question. It was, luckily, only a couple of hours away by car. Once we reached that agreement, the plaintiff agreed to send it to me, and did so.
The laptop arrived via UPS and I carefully unpacked and documented the shipment. The laptop had been broken in half and was inoperable. After issuing a report on the condition of the laptop, we discussed it with the attorneys on both sides. The plaintiff claimed that a child had dropped the device and broken it in this manner. My opinion was that, given the extent and type of damage, that no child could have done this either accidentally or deliberately. I noted that this could be proved. I also stated that I could rebuild the laptop back to its original form and function and both sides agreed that I should proceed to do so.
I procured the repair parts and re-assembled the laptop into an operational form. I reported the success of that effort to the attorneys and noted that I would begin the thermal analysis on Monday of the following week. The plaintiff and their attorneys then decided to drop the case. After all agreements were in place, I shipped the laptop back to the plaintiff who, for their efforts, got a very expensive laptop repair job.