Ali Warsome fled his native country of Somalia for a better life in the US.  Unfortunately, his life changed dramatically for the worse as the result of a car accident on April 28, 2002.

On that day, Warsome was riding in a 1994 Nissan Altima and traveling from his home in Falls Church VA to Washington DC. He was headed to the bus station to visit his daughter in Minnesota. The driver, one of his sons, was attempting a sudden lane change when the car struck a traffic barrier. It wasn't much of a crash — the Altima didn't even need a tow, it was still drivable. However, the impact caused the passenger side air bag to inflate. The air bag struck Warsome's face with such force that his left eye had to be removed. Surgeons were unable to restore the vision in his right eye because – according to his medical records – "the retina was completely shredded." Ali Warsome lost his eyesight because of the impact of the air bag.

"I cannot see the sky anymore," the 74-year-old immigrant told a reporter. "I cannot cook, I cannot walk, I cannot help my grandchildren.... I don't know what to do.  "Warsome's Washington DC attorney, John F. Kennedy, brought Lawrence Baron in as co-counsel because of Baron's experience prosecuting the Altima air bag cases. Baron and Kennedy documented the defective operation of the airbag. They noted how at least 40 other individuals — riding as passengers in Altimas — had been blinded or otherwise suffered damage to their eyes as a result of the force with which the air bag strikes a passenger's face. Eventually Nissan agreed to an undisclosed settlement with Warsome.

Warsome supported the April 2003 recall of the airbags in the 1994 and 1995 Nissan Altimas. He was featured in a Los Angeles Times newspaper article documenting the product defect just months prior to the recall. This was one of many pressure points applied to Nissan that eventually led to the car company’s decision to replace the air bags.