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Auto Product Liability - Lumina
We just recently completed the successful trial of an automotive product liability case against General Motors. The decedents, a family of three, had purchased a brand new Chevrolet Lumina in late March 1995. On April 21, 1995, they were rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. Their car exploded in fire on impact with a fireball reaching 70 feet in the air. The three occupants of the Lumina perished in the ensuing inferno. At trial it was proved that one of the clamps securing the fuel system was either missing or not properly torqued, thereby allowing over one liter of gas to escape from the fuel tank as vapor in under 300 milliseconds. Alternatively it was proven the Lumina fuel tank should have been shielded or redesigned. The tank as designed was .30" thick and located ten inches above the road with no protection. The jury found both General Motors and the trucking company liable for the deaths of the three occupants and returned a total award with delay damages of $12 million.
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