$53 million dollar wrongful death case

A man lost his wife and mother-in-law and saw his daughter seriously injured and permanently disabled due to a head-on crash on an Arkansas highway. Crashworthiness issues surrounding Daimler-Chrysler’s design of the long-popular Chrysler minivan were the main focus of a trial in Memphis, Tennessee which resulted in a $53 million dollar verdict against the automaker.

The vehicle which crashed head-on into the family’s van was also a Chrysler – a Jeep Cherokee. Although made by the same company, after the accident the Jeep showed far less damage to the occupant compartment of the vehicle. When Chrysler designed the minivan, made several years ago, it made a decision to design the crush zones so that the vehicle would buckle directly under the driver seat and front passenger seat.

In the Arkansas crash, the driver of the minivan saw the Jeep swerving out of the oncoming lane and quickly pulled off the side of the road and attempted to stop. The Jeep, however, veered too far over and struck the minivan head-on as it had almost come to a stop. The crush zones under the front seats gave way, crushing the driver and her mother and causing injuries to the young girl in the second row seat.

A wrongful death suit was filed on behalf of the deceased wife and the estate of his mother-in-law and a personal injury claim was made by and for his minor daughter who was permanently injured in the crash. At the time, I was clerking for the firm of Morris, Haynes & Hornsby and spent considerable time in Memphis working on the case. I was also able to join the vehicle expert in his inspection of the crash vehicle which ultimately resulted in testimony constituting the plaintiff's strongest evidence of wrongdoing by Daimler-Chrysler.

All settlement offers were rejected and the case went to trial. A Memphis jury deliberated for a short time and returned a $53 million dollar verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. Cases like this show how important of a role the law plays in the evolution and design of automobile safety technology. And regardless of what tort reform advocates would have you believe, automobile crashworthiness lawsuits like this one bring about real changes that truly save lives in the future.

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