DAVID G. ULLMAN
Product Design Expert Witness
Ullman provides expert witness services in two areas:
Product Development Process Failures, and
Electric Bicycle and Scooter Design Faults and Products Liability
Product Development Process Failures
It can be difficult to prove whether or not a product is dangerously defective. Beyond the product’s safety, what is of equal importance in litigation, though infrequently addressed, are design process weaknesses. A poor design process can lead to a product that causes injury or damage. In some cases proving that the product’s design process is flawed can assist in demonstrating that the product itself is flawed. In other words, poor design and management practice failed to adequately consider risks, resulting in poor design decisions and a defective product.
Analysis of a manufacturer’s design process can help demonstrate culpability especially when there are numerous accidents involving the product. Such analysis is accomplished by studying how the manufacturer collects, uses, and reacts to test and historical data about its product’s performance. There is risk in using any product no matter how benign it may be. The question is, did the product’s developers take this risk into account and mitigate what they could in a responsible manner during the life of the product?
Electric Bicycles and Scooters Design Faults and Products Liability
Dr. Ullman is an experienced bicycle and electric vehicle designer. He has served as an expert witness on electric forklift personal injury cases. He holds six patents. He has taught product design and failure analysis for over 30 years.
In 1992 he founded and designed bicycles for the BikeE Corporation. During this tenure with BikeE, he created innovative products and patented some of their features. His products were so well designed that many of them are still on the road nearly 20 years after the company stopped producing them in 2002.
In 1996 he developed an electric bicycle for BikeE, but with the poor batteries at that time and a weak electric bicycle market, BikeE never produced an electric bike. More recently, he has consulted for an electric tricycle manufacturer on the design of their new products. Additionally, over the last four years, he has researched electric airplane design culminating in-flight testing one concept during the 2019 flying season.
He has also served as an expert witness in personal injury cases involving electric forklifts (2016-2017).