Martin Brigham has devoted his legal career to representing victims of unsafe products and of corporate negligence. His talent in the field of products liability is recognized year after year by The Best Lawyers in America©, the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. He is the only Philadelphia plaintiff’s attorney selected by corporate and insurance counsel for listing in the “World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers.”
As lead trial counsel in over one hundred cases, he’s recovered millions to tens of millions of dollars for each of his clients and their families. Mr. Brigham led the international team of attorneys representing the passengers aboard a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter that crashed into the North Atlantic off Newfoundland. Fifteen of those passengers were killed and one survived. Less than a year after the accident, every client’s case was resolved for an amount – made confidential to protect the clients – that ensured their financial security and honored those they had lost.
Mr. Brigham is regularly asked to become lead attorney in matters focused on a large corporation’s systemic failure to follow its own safety rules that results in devastating injuries or death. He frequently speaks and publishes articles on product safety. He was the lead author of Injured on the Job, published by the Philadelphia Area Project of Occupational Safety and Health (PhilaPOSH), which has honored Mr. Brigham for his lifetime commitment to promoting workplace safety.
Mr. Brigham is nationally recognized for his pioneering work in the production of video settlement brochures and has prepared hundreds of video presentations of his clients’ injuries and damages. He directs the firm’s in-house video production facility and has lectured on visual demonstrative evidence.
Mr. Brigham chairs the Capital Campaign for YouthBuild Philadelphia, an alternative high school for young people who have dropped out of school and want to transform their lives. In one year, students earn their high school diploma, perform 300 hours of community service and complete an initial trade certification.
AFFILIATIONS
Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health, recipient of the Karen Silkwood Award and the Award for Lifetime Commitment to Workplace Safety
EDUCATION
Go Global for Stronger Safety Claims
Reprinted from Trial Magazine
Manufacturers of workplace products often hide behind weak U.S. safety standards to avoid liability for injuries. More stringent international safety standards can show what the manufacturer should have done to prevent your client’s injury.
Read More
Not Alone
Reprinted from Trial Magazine
After completing her late-night shift at the hospital, her morning chores, and homework for a nursing program, Anna had lunch with her two children and then went to her living room to sit for a few moments. Finally, she thought, a rare chance to put her feet up on a Sunday afternoon. Minutes later, she heard a crash in the kitchen, followed by the screams of her five-year-old son, Paul.
Third Party Lawsuits Promote Workplace Safety
Reprinted from Safer Times
Because of the Workers’ Compensation Act, injured workers cannot sue their employers, no matter how severe the injuries or how unsafe the working conditions. Injured workers can, however, potentially sue any other company which may have contributed to causing their accident. These lawsuits can not only provide desperately needed financial resources to injured workers and their families, but also promote workplace safety, through re-design of unsafe products, changes in work practices and improved training.
Trumping Pollution Exclusions
Reprinted from Trial Magazine
Mark’s life hasn’t been the same since his accident. A year ago, he was overcome by carboncmonoxide produced as a by-product of a machine at his workplace. He lay unconscious for several minutes before he was discovered by a coworker. Though Mark survived the accident, he sustained permanent brain damage..
Third Party Liability for Workplace Injuries
Reprinted from Trial Magazine
Careful investigation and creativity may reveal alternative sources of liability for workers who are seriously injured on the job.
How Do You Spell Relief?
Reprinted from Trial Magazine
ADA, FMLA, SSA … Lawyers representing injured workers sit down to an alphabet soup of possible legal remedies. Here’s how to spoon up the letters that will best protect your client.
Largest Pre-Trial Recovery in Delaware History
Auto racing fans were directed by the race track owner to set up their RV’s directly under an unlit, unmarked, uninsulated 69,000 volt high power line. Following the track’s suggestion to fly the flag of their favorite race team, a family put up a tall flagpole. When the wind shifted, the pole contacted the power line, causing an electrical arc that killed two and catastrophically injured three others. Martin Brigham was lead trial counsel for all of the families and conducted over fifty depositions and interviewed over one hundred witnesses. After Mr. Brigham prepared a compelling settlement video, the case resolved at mediation for what was described by defense counsel as the largest pre-trial personal injury recovery in the state’s history.
$35,000,000 in Lifetime Benefits in Stove Tipover Accident
An apartment stove tipped over when a five-year-old boy stood on its open door while trying to reach a pot. The pot of scalding water toppled off the stove, spilled onto the boy, and severely burned his groin and upper thighs. The landlord had ignored Philadelphia’s building code which requires every apartment stove to be anchored to the floor at the back of the stove. The stove manufacturer violated the standards for the home appliance industry when it failed to provide essential safety information. Martin K. Brigham’s role as lead trial counsel for the boy in his claim against the landlord and the stove manufacturer was featured as a Spotlight case in ATLA’s Law Reporter.
Sixteen Confidential Settlements for Sikorsky S-92 Crash Off the Coast of Newfoundland
In 2009, Mr. Brigham was asked to lead the international team of attorneys representing the passengers – fifteen of whom were killed and one who survived – in the crash of a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter in the frigid north Atlantic off of the coast of Newfoundland. In order to document each family’s loss, Mr. Brigham, working with Canadian co-counsel and partner Stephen Raynes, videotaped hundreds of hours of interviews that he then edited into sixteen settlement presentations, one for each client. In less than a year after the accident, every client’s case was resolved for amounts – made confidential to protect the clients – that ensured their financial security and honored those that they had lost. The Premiere of Newfoundland and Labrador commended Mr. Brigham “for his exceptional leadership on this case.” Read More
$24,000,000 Confidential Settlement for Construction Site Accident
As the operator of a large piece of construction equipment sat down in the cab, he unintentionally moved the joystick control, causing the boom to swing uncontrollably and knock a piece of equipment onto a young man standing nearby. The worker became a quadriplegic. Because of his decades of experience in products liability, Mr. Brigham was responsible for preparing the case against the manufacturer. He established that the excavator manufacturer’s design violated international safety standards, ignored safety alerts from its own country’s OSHA, and failed to include an alternate design of the control handle that was in use on other equipment and would have prevented the injury. After jury selection had been completed, the defendants settled for $24,000,000.
Martin K. Brigham
Attorney At Law
Office: 215.568.6190
Toll Free: 1.800.535.1797
mkb@rayneslaw.com
