Robots.txt > Taras Rudnitsky - Attorney and Counselor at Law

Taras Rudnitsky’s unique background as an automotive safety engineer, expert witness and attorney provides invaluable insight when analyzing potential automotive crashworthiness cases throughout Florida and the United States. He has been a featured speaker in the areas of airbags, seat belts, crashworthiness, occupant restraint systems and manufacturing defects/quality control, as well as a governmental defect investigation that led to the recall of an airbag system. He has also been interviewed by several television station and newspaper reporters to discuss dangerous air bags and dangerous airbag crash sensors.

Taras firmly believes all attorneys should contribute to their community. In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court recognized Taras’ contributions to the public by awarding him an Outstanding Pro Bono Service award.  In 2009, the Seminole County Bar Association Legal Aid Society awarded him the Pro Bono Award for the voluntary free legal assistance he provided to Seminole County (Florida) consumers.

LICENSES

• Attorney – The Florida Bar

• Attorney – State Bar of Michigan

• Professional Engineer – State of Michigan

EDUCATION

• Juris Doctor, 1998 (Order of the Coif – top 10%): University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 1993: Wayne State University College of Engineering, Detroit, Michigan

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 1988: Wayne State University College of Engineering, Detroit, Michigan (summa cum laude)

EXPERIENCE

• Attorney and Counselor at Law, 1998-present, Owner of law firm representing consumers

• Consultant and Expert Witness, 1998-2004: Court-recognized expert witness in cases throughout United States

• Automotive Design / Performance Engineer, 1988-1995: Designed, developed and/or tested air bags, seat belts, seats, steering systems, vehicle interiors, vehicle structure, and other components for General Motors, including actual vehicle crash tests and laboratory tests

"HANDS-ON" AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE

• Expert witness with responsibility for investigating hundreds of vehicles and vehicle components during accident investigations to determine whether a defect caused or contributed to any injuries

• Conducted over 30 barrier crash tests for assessment of occupant crash protection, including airbags, seat belts (safety belts), dash panels (instrument panels), steering wheels, steering columns, knee bolsters, interior padding, firewalls, safety cages, fuel systems, vehicle structure, frame rails, and numerous other components

• Conducted over 130 sled tests to simulate barrier crashes; analyzed and reported on the performance of the airbags, seat belts, seats, dash panels, interior components, and occupant crash protection generally

• Conducted hundreds of airbag and seat belt sub-system tests and evaluations to assess their effect on occupant crash protection and vehicle safety and to validate their safety performance

• Analyzed tens of thousands of test dummy and vehicle data plots and kinematic analyses from actual vehicle crash tests, along with the associated high speed films

• Defined airbag sensor deployment specifications for high speed and threshold test configurations to determine when airbags should deploy and when air bags should not deploy

• Served as General Motors’ representative at U.S. Government sponsored crash tests to verify compliance with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)

• Served as airbag project leader for team that was congratulated by General Motors President for achieving highest possible rating in U.S. Government New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash test

• Served as General Motors divisional representative to Passenger Air Bag Core Group expert technical team

• Served as General Motors divisional representative to task force investigating seat performance in rear end collisions, including seat structure, seat back strength, and head rests (head restraints)

• Served as design / release and performance engineer for airbags, instrument panels (I/P or dash panels), trim plates, knee bolsters and instrument panel structure

• Served as co-chairperson of a Frontal Impact Product Development Team charged with coordinating all aspects of occupant protection in frontal crashes

• Conducted extensive testing to develop sub-system testing and computer simulation capability for prediction of facial bone damage from steering wheel impacts at speeds just below the air bag deployment threshold

• Certified compliance to U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards related to occupant crash protection for several car lines

• Presented on occupant crash protection and air bag technical issues and solutions to General Motors’ Air Bag Performance Assessment Committee

• Performed troubleshooting for airbag systems in several General Motors models; led resolution of airbag related production stoppages at three assembly plants

• Conducted numerous reviews and inspections of air bag supplier component manufacturing and assembly plants

• Used component and sub-system testing to enhance product development: hyge sled testing, static deployments, mini-sled testing, knee impact machines and computer simulation

• Spearheaded vehicle recall for airbag safety defects caused by a supplier’s manufacturing and design defects

• Guided design of interface components and sub-systems to optimize vehicle safety and crashworthiness: airbag sensors, airbag deployment doors, vehicle structure, instrument panels, knee bolsters, safety belts, seats, steering wheels, steering columns, windshields, inside rear view mirrors, sun visors, interior trim plates and other components

• Led the training and development of other air bag design and development engineers

AFFILIATIONS

• American Association for Justice (AAJ, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America)

• Attorneys Information Exchange Group  (AIEG)

• Center for Auto Safety (CAS)

• Florida Justice Association (FJA, formerly known as the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers)

• Million Dollar Advocates Forum

• National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)

• Orange County (Florida) Bar Association (OCBA)

• Order of the Coif (top 10% of law school graduating class)

• Public Justice organization (formerly known as the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) 

• Seminole County (Florida) Bar Association (SCBA)

• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

• Tau Beta Pi (national engineering honor society)

• Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA)

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT HAS INCLUDED:

• President of Church Council

• Diamond Sponsor of Seminole County Legal Aid Society

• Patron Sponsor of 2008 March for Meals

• Sponsor of 2008 Lake Mary High School 5K Run/Walk

• Judge for High School debate tournaments

• Volunteer for Justice Teaching initiative at Lake Mary school 

• Member of the Parent Teacher Student Association

• President of the Dibrova Homeowners Association

• Member of the Green Oak Township Road Committee

• Coach – indoor and outdoor soccer

• Member of the Parent Teacher Association

• Proud contributor to numerous charitable organizations

OTHER LANGUAGES

• Oral and written fluency in Ukrainian

PRESENTATIONS

Taras has been a featured speaker in the areas of airbags, seat belts, crashworthiness, occupant crash protection and other similar subjects. He was a speaker at a presentation to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during an investigation of an air bag defect in Nissan Altima vehicles. Following that investigation, the vehicle was recalled. Taras has also been interviewed by several television station and newspaper reporters.

He frequently speaks at seminars for other lawyers to educate them about automotive safety defects.  Among the topics related to occupant crash protection and motor vehicle defects for which Taras has been a featured speaker are the following:

• Air Bag Cushions (tethers, fold techniques, and shape)

• Air Bag Inflators (inflator technology, dual/multiple level inflators)

• Air Bag Out-of-Position (OOP) counter-measures

• Air Bag Sensors and Deployment Thresholds

• Air Bag Size

• Air Bag / Sun Visor Interaction

• Bag Slap

• Car Company Purchasing Strategies: Buying Trouble?

• Crashworthiness

• Manufacturing Defects and Quality Control

• Occupant Restraint Engineering Concepts

• Recessed Air Bags

• Seat Track Issues and Adjustable Pedals

• Telescoping Steering Wheels