Car Accidents

January 2, 2010

Ford Settles Explorer Suit as Jury Considers Damages

Already on the hook for the lion’s share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.

The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.

December 24, 2009

Texas Fails in Efforts to Improve Car Accidents at Work Zones

by Dr. Shezad Malik

By the time Bryan Lee headed to work along Highway 51 in Texas on Sept. 15, 2005, the road-building industry and its government overseers were painfully aware of a deadly, though easily corrected, construction hazard: pavement-edge drop-offs.

Accidents involving dangerous drop-offs kill about 160 people and injure 11,000 each year. Numerous studies have shown that the steeper the drop-off, the greater the danger.

In Texas in 2002, seven people were killed when a car slipped off a sharp edge of roadway and onto the shoulder, causing the driver to overcorrect into the path of a minivan. Four years before, six people died in a succession of accidents in another Texas work zone, where contractors had failed to smooth out the edge of a newly paved lane.

Read full New York Times story here.

December 17, 2009

Santa Rosa Winery to pay $3 M to Teen Injured in DUI

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Santa Rosa winery has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a Sebastopol man who was permanently disabled in an alcohol-related car crash in 2006.

Paradise Ridge Winery was sued by Joshua Apodaca, the passenger in a car driven by a 19-year-old classmate, Sean Bradley, who allegedly was served beer at a wedding reception hosted by the winery.

A crash early the next morning left Apodaca with a serious brain injury and his family sought damages from Paradise Ridge, Bradley and the owners of a Sebastopol 7-Eleven store where Bradley bought additional alcohol.

December 10, 2009

Florida Man Paralyzed in Motor Veicle Accident Awarded $44.9 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Lee County jury awarded $44.9 million to a Cape Coral man who was paralyzed in a 2006 motor vehicle accident.

The verdict, one of the largest in the county’s history, was awarded to Gerald Aloia. Aloia was riding on his motorcycle on Oct. 22, 2006, when he was struck by a Chevrolet Corvette driven by Deborah Veilleux. Veilleux, 45 at the time, died in 2007.

December 3, 2009

Supreme Court Allows $82.6M Award in SUV Rollover

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over.

The justices rejected Ford Motor Co.’s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not be punished because its design of the vehicle met federal safety standards.

A California state appeals court earlier rejected Ford’s contention and upheld the award to Benetta Buell-Wilson.

December 2, 2009

Jury Awards $89 M Against Drunken Driver for Wrongful Death Car Crash

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A jury has awarded $89 million in damages to the family of a man killed in a 2008 crash with a drunken driver, and to the man’s fiancée and daughter.

“The eye-popping numbers were the jury’s attempt to send a message the only way they could,” said attorney Mark Bronson, who won the case after a one-day trial in Franklin County Circuit Court.

He said he doubts his clients will ever see a fraction of the money. But he said the jury’s disgust with drunken driving was unmistakable.

December 1, 2009

WA Supreme Court Reinstates $8M Award Against Hyundai

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The state Supreme Court reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat in a 1997 crash that left a man paralyzed.

In a 7-2 ruling, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned a trial court’s finding for Jesse Magana of Vancouver.

The justices said the South Korean automaker deliberately withheld documentation from Magana’s lawyers for too long concerning other crashes in which front seats collapsed backward.

“Trial courts need not tolerate deliberate and willful discovery abuse,” wrote the majority. “This result appropriately compensates the other party, punishes Hyundai, and hopefully educates and deters others so inclined.”

November 27, 2009

Jury Awards Man $6 M When a Tree Falls on his Car

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Phillipsburg man was awarded nearly $6 million for injuries suffered when a large tree limb dropped onto their car in 2006.

Kenneth Matlock is permanently disabled and can no longer work as a truck driver, his career for more than 20 years.

On July 4, 2006 Matlock, his wife and three children were travelling on Route 29 when the limb from an oak tree, fell onto their car. Matlock and his wife suffered broken necks and he lost the use of his right hand after the limb fell from a height of about 20 feet. Kenneth Matlock, now 43, lost control of the SUV, which continued north 220 feet until hitting a guard rail on the opposite side of the road.

November 24, 2009

Iowa Supreme Court Orders Trial in Trampoline Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings and said a minister who crashed his car trying to avoid a trampoline that had blown into the road during a storm can sue its owners.

Thompson and his wife filed a lawsuit against the owners of the trampoline, Kaczinski and Lockwood, saying they were responsible for the 2006 crash near Earlham in Madison County because they had not secured the disassembled trampoline.

Court records show Kaczinski and Lockwood had taken the trampoline apart during the summer of 2006 and placed its parts in their yard about 38 feet from a gravel road nearby. A few weeks later, on Sept. 17, 2006, Thompson, who is a minister, was driving down the road from the church when he swerved to avoid the trampoline top, which has blown into the road during a storm the night before.

November 20, 2009

Jury Awards $5.25M in Va Teenager Wrongful Death

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Albemarle County, Va jury awarded $5.25 million to the parents and sibling of a 16-year-old county girl who was killed in a car accident in 2008.

The jury found that Don B. Swisher Trucking Corp., McCann Delivery Service and Kenneth Barbour were negligent when Barbour hit Sydney Aichs’ 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier with a tractor-trailer while running a red light on May 9, 2008.