Administrative/Regulatory
Aug. 2, 2002
Parents' Suit Against Ford Gets Delayed
LOS ANGELES - The 2nd District Court of Appeal has temporarily halted the trial of a lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. and a Visalia trucking company filed by the family of an 11-year-old boy who was paralyzed in a 1996 auto accident.
The order, issued late Tuesday, was the result of a motion filed by the plaintiffs asking the appellate court to reconsider striking the punitive damages portion of the case. The stay has delayed the trial by at least a month, one of the family's attorneys, Tom Girardi, said.
On July 9, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alice C. Hill granted Ford's request to drop the punitive damages claims, which alleged that the carmaker knew a lap belt in the rear center seat of the 1996 Ford Windstar was unsafe.
Agneta Karlsson and her family sued Ford and Brad Johnson Trucking in 1997, after an automobile accident paralyzed their son, Johan. Johan was injured when the family's Windstar minivan struck a 15-ton steel coil that had toppled from a flatbed truck onto the Grapevine portion of Interstate 5. Agneta Karlsson v. Michael A. Savage, PC019980 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 13, 1997).
The Karlssons also sued two other trucking companies, their drivers, the company that leased the family the minivan and the California Steel Industry. All have settled.
The Karlssons received more than $12 million, most of which goes to the care of Johan, who was 5 at the time of the accident, said Marvin Kay, another of the family's attorneys.
Ford and Brad Johnson Trucking are the only remaining defendants who have not settled.
The lawsuit claims Ford was aware that placing a lap belt in the rear center seat of the minivan was dangerous and that it failed to warn owners in its 1996 Windstar manual of the potential for injuries from the seat belt, especially with children.
Ford claimed in its motion papers that the allegations were without merit and that the plaintiffs had failed to provide proof that Ford managers acted with fraud, malice and oppression, according to court documents.
The pending trial has ignited bitter accusations between the opposing sides.
Edward R. Leonard, the attorney for the Visalia trucking company and its driver, says the family is leveraging money won in the early settlements to wage its legal war against his clients and Ford.
But Kay says the settlement award has provided the physical therapy that the injured boy requires.
In its petition for writ of mandate, the family claims that Hill erred three times in ruling for Ford:
• She misinterpreted a case test determining whether Ford proved there were no triable issues of material fact in the punitive damages claims.
• She failed to follow principles for summary judgment proceedings, including viewing the evidence in the most favorable light for the opposing party.
• Hill also improperly considered evidence and resolved conflicts in the evidence - matters only a jury should consider at trial, not the court.
The appellate court ordered Ford to file a response by Aug. 14.
Leslie Simmons
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