Litigation
Aug. 1, 2002
Trial Looms in Paralyzed Boy's Suit Against Ford
LOS ANGELES -Almost six years have passed since a minivan traveling up the Grapevine slammed into a 29,000-pound steel coil that fell off a flatbed truck and left 11-year-old Johan Karlsson paralyzed.
Several of those involved in the accident, including the California Steel Industry and Transcontinental Transport, of Boise, Idaho, the company that owned and operated the truck from which the steel coil toppled, have paid Karlsson's Orange County family more than $12 million in settlements.
On Monday, the Karlssons will face off in a Los Angeles County courtroom with the remaining defendants - the world's second-largest auto manufacturer and a Visalia trucking company and its driver. Agneta Karlsson v. Michael A. Savage, PC019980 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 13, 1997).
But as the case goes to trial, the two sides have traded bitter accusations.
Edward R. Leonard, who represents the Visalia trucking company and its driver, said his clients have refused to settle like the other defendants because they believe they are not to blame for the tragedy.
Leonard said that Transcontinental, which settled with the Karlssons in 1999 for a little more than $10 million, has helped the Karlssons finance their case against Ford Motor Co. and his clients, Brad Johnson Trucking and driver Emilio Gonzalez as part of a sliding-scale agreement.
In exchange, Transcontinental will get its settlement money back if the Karlssons prevail, he said.
"Poor Agneta Karlsson, the mother of this little boy, is now snuggling up with the man who put the boy in the wheelchair," Leonard said.
But the family's attorney, Marvin Kay, said the approach has benefits for the family.
"[Transcontinental] faced the responsibility, and they came forth with the money that was necessary for all kinds of physical therapy and for this kid to be able to roll around in his house," Kay, said. "If Mr. Leonard thinks that was snuggling up, in actuality it was a good chance for Johan, and we took it."
The Karlssons claim that Ford Motor Co., manufacturer of the Windstar minivan in which Johan was riding, is liable for the boy's injuries because he was wearing a defective seat belt made by Ford when the collision occurred.
The family also contends that Johan was placed in a seat that the Windstar manual indicates is safe for children, the family's attorney, Marvin Kay, said.
Brad Johnson Trucking and its driver are partly responsible for the accident because the truck was loaded too heavily to go freeway speeds, the family contends.
In addition, they allege the driver failed to take proper safety measures before and after the accident.
"The steel coil was only the cause of the accident," Kay, a sole practitioner in Los Angeles, said. "The cause of the injury was Ford and, to some extent, Brad Johnson and his driver, Emilio Gonzalez."
If the family prevails, Kay believes Johan alone, who has undergone more than 25 operations, will get at least $10 million in economic damages.
On Nov. 23, 1996, Agneta Karlsson and her five children, ranging from 11 months to 8 years, were traveling to Yakima, Wash., for a Thanksgiving visit with her sister. The family had moved to California from Sweden earlier that year.
Driving the 1996 Ford Windstar was Tim Mansfield, Karlsson's brother-in-law, who had flown from Washington to drive the family up.
Karlsson's husband, Hans, was not with his family because of work, and he planned to fly to Washington later, Kay said.
The minivan hit the steel coil while traveling north in the rainy fast lane of the Golden State Freeway on the steep grade known as the Grapevine.
The steel coil had been thrown onto the freeway about seven minutes earlier when Transcontinental's flatbed truck, driven by Michael Savage, rear-ended the big rig owned by Brad Johnson Trucking and driven by Gonzalez. Both trucks were in the far right lane of the freeway.
Leonard, who represents Brad Johnson Trucking and Gonzalez, said the truck was driving 30 mph to 40 mph carrying 78,000 pounds of livestock feed.
Savage was traveling between 40 mph and 50 mph and fell asleep at the wheel before he rear-ended Gonzalez' truck, Leonard of the Orange firm Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow & Cantor said.
"They claim [Gonzalez was] driving too slow and that he should have looked in the rearview," Leonard said. "What are you going to do when you see a guy coming up?
"Mr. Savage fell asleep. He caused the accident. We're the victim," Leonard added.
But Kay said Gonzalez's truck didn't have reflective tape on the back or hazard lights flashing, which would have made his truck easier to see.
State law did not require reflective tape at that time, Leonard said.
The truck collision jarred loose two steel coils, one of which came to rest in the fast lane of the freeway.
Gonzalez, the Karlssons contend, failed to help provide flares or other emergency reflectors to indicate an accident had happened, Kay said.
But Leonard said that, after the accident, Gonzalez thought he was having a heart attack and was immobilized.
When the Windstar hit the coil, Johan, 5, was thrown forward, causing the lap belt to tighten around his stomach, Kay claims.
The belt "destroyed everything in that path" toward the spine, Kay said.
A tractor-trailer that was driving in the next lane hit the minivan, spinning it around. The owner of that truck, Centerstate Transport, settled with the family in 2001 for $1.75 million.
The collision with the Centerstate truck did not cause Johan's injuries, which included the loss of a kidney and the need for constant care, Kay contends.
"All the injuries had already occurred," he said.
Kay, who has teamed up with Los Angeles attorney Tom Girardi of Girardi & Keese to try the case, claims that the lap belt caused the internal injuries and paralysis and that the company knew the belt was unsafe.
"Ford Motor provided no warning of how serious and how deadly these seat belts are," Kay said. "They had knowledge [of the alleged design defect] and could have had a different kind of belt in there."
In a statement, Ford attorney Frank Kelly said the federal government and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the 1996 Ford Windstar the "highest occupancy safety rating possible."
"In this accident, all of the parties agree that the collision speeds were greater than any standard or regulation in the world," Frank of San Francisco's Shook, Hardy & Bacon said.
Frank said that a 1999 federal government study concluded that there "was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of lap belts and lap/shoulder belts in the rear center seats of vans and SUV's, and that both are effective safety restraints."
He added that the complex issues of the case will be "fully developed at trial."
Leonard said he looks forward to hashing out the claims in court.
"Every case has a value: Do you compromise your principles, or do you fight?" he asked. "That's the question."
Leslie Simmons
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