Altec is a leading provider of products and services to the electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, lights and signs, and contractor markets. Their “Promise to Their Customers” since 1929, has been “based on values that place the customer first and view people as our greatest strength”.
It’s Chairman and CEO grandson of the founder continues to grow the company utilizing the same basic principles and, over the years, those values have helped them earn the trust and confidence of their customers worldwide.
Far more frequently in 21st century America, the public image that a corporation promotes like Altec’s, “Customer First and People as our Greatest Strength” doesn’t match reality. And Lance Hansen, an “Altec Customer” knows that…. unfortunately, all too well.
On July 30, 2012, 30-year-old Lance Hansen, an experienced AP45 Truck Boom Tip Operator was working as the foreman on a job in Woodland, Calif. Because the Altec45 Truck’s boom tip welds were improperly welded when originally manufactured, 4 welds rather than the recommended 12 to 20 welds, Lance’s bucket collapsed and crashed resulting in catastrophic injuries to him.
In this Insider Exclusive Investigative Network TV Special, our news team travels to Redding, California, to visit with Russ Reiner, Partner at Reiner, Slaughter, McCartney & Frankel Law Offices in “ALTEC’s Dangerous AP45 Truck Boom Tips” and to show how Russ and his law firm were able to prove that Altec knew… and later admitted…. that the boom tips in its AP-45 trucks were defectively designed and manufactured and needed to be replaced immediately because serious injury could occur when a boom tip failed.
The most unique aspect of this case has to do with the duty of a manufacturer who knows of a potentially deadly defect in its product, to cure the defect and protect its customers. We all have become accustomed to getting recall notices in the mail or reading them online, but those are usually for a product sold to tens of thousands of people or more and most commonly, with a less dangerous defect.
But in this case, the manufacturer made only about 700 of these vehicles and sold them for $75,000 or more to approximately 140 owners. Moreover, the defect, by Altec’s admission, could cause serious injury or death. In those cases, manufacturers should do more than send a letter advising the owner to bring in his vehicle to replace a defective part that could kill someone.
Amazingly…. the manufacturer knows, to this day, that there are more than 100 trucks that have yet to replace their defective boom tips. Although Altec has the information on the owners of those trucks, it has done nothing to fix the dangerous defect since mailing a single letter.
For additional information on this case and others, please contact Russ Reiner @ Reiner, Slaughter, McCartney & Frankel Law https://reinerslaughter.com/ 800-355-2856
“Dedicated To Lance Hansen – keep Up The Good Fight”