The California accident attorneys at Wisner Baum filed a lawsuit on behalf of a licensed seafarer who suffered catastrophic injuries in a 2023 dune buggy crash in Brawley, California.
Wisner Baum filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man who alleges his catastrophic injuries sustained in a Brawley, California dune buggy accident were the direct result of the vehicle’s owner and manufacturer’s failure to provide adequate safety devices.
Injury attorneys Ari S. Friedman and Timothy A. Loranger filed the lawsuit on February 5, 2024 (Case No. ECU003367) on behalf of plaintiff James Montano in California Superior Court, Imperial County. The complaint names defendants Glamis Dunes of Brawley, California, a company that rents recreational vehicles for use in the Glamis Dunes, and BRP Inc., a Quebec, Canada-based holding company of Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., which manufactures high-end recreational vehicles.
The complaint seeks damages based on allegations of defective design, defective warning, and negligence against all defendants.
Lawsuit Stems From 2023 Off-Road Accident in Brawley, California
On November 11, 2023, plaintiff James Montano decided to go to the Glamis Dunes with work colleagues and rent a Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle (commonly referred to as an ROV or dune buggy) to enjoy a day of recreational activity.
At approximately 12:00 p.m. local time, Montano was operating the two-seat Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS Turbo RR dune buggy on flat terrain when it unexpectedly rolled onto the driver’s side. Montano’s left arm was partially ejected and crushed by the roll cage over the driver’s side, almost completely severing his left hand from his arm.
He was transported via helicopter to a hospital in San Diego, California where he underwent emergency surgery. At the time of the filing of this complaint, Montano remains in the hospital and has undergone numerous surgical procedures, skin grafts, and hyperbaric treatments, and infection treatments, all in an effort to avoid amputation of his left hand.
According to the lawsuit, Glamis Dunes, which markets itself as a “premier destination” for ROVs in the area, did not tell Montano that the dune buggy was prone to rollovers and lacked critical safety features, including window netting and wrist restraints that could have protected him from injury.
Montano’s attorneys say that even if his hand is saved from amputation, the dune buggy accident caused significant, lifelong damage that ended his career as a licensed seafarer and a ship crew member.
“The safety features these defendants failed to provide cost nothing in comparison to the enormity of the medical bills and rehabilitation effort James now faces for him to have so much as a fighting chance of regaining the ability to simply hold a water bottle, much less ever climb a ship rope’s ladder again,” said Montano’s attorney Ari S. Friedman. “The significant physical and financial jeopardy James now faces is the direct result of the conscious choice these defendants made about safety features to include with the Can-Am.”
Wisner Baum | California Injury Attorneys
The California injury attorneys at Wisner Baum have represented thousands of plaintiffs in a broad range of practice areas, including cases involving off-road vehicles. Since 1985, our firm has won more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements.
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