These cases changed the way big corporations do business and brought attention
to the public if it involved personal injury or wrongful death. With 2014
being having the largest car recall in history, it is good to hear that
these companies are being held accountable for their actions. Below are
the cases that will be recognized starting July 27, 2014 in Baltimore, MD.
These cases are outlined by Arthur Bryant Chairman of the Annual Convention
of the American Association for Justice.
“Bookout v. Toyota
Bookout v. Toyota Motor Corp. was the first suit to go to trial against
Toyota tying sudden unintended acceleration to electronic throttle control
problems. A team of trial lawyers —Jere L. Beasley, J. Cole Portis,
R. Graham Esdale, and Benjamin E. Baker of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin,
Portis & Miles, P.C. in Montgomery, AL, with assistance from Larry
Tawwater of The Tawwater Law Firm in Oklahoma City, OK, and Paul Martin
of Martin Jean Jackson in Ponca City, OK — won a $3 million compensatory
damages jury verdict. Toyota settled before the jury could determine the
amount of punitive damages. Then it settled the hundreds of other personal
injury and wrongful death cases pending nationwide.
In Re Toyota
In addition to injuring and killing passengers and drivers, Toyota’s
defective electronic throttle system endangered and caused economic harm
to a huge number of Toyota owners. As the public became more aware of
the sudden acceleration problems, the value of Toyota cars plummeted.
Class actions were filed across the country. Many were consolidated in
federal court in Los Angeles, and the court appointed Steve W. Berman
of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP in Seattle, WA, Marc M. Seltzer of
Susman Godfrey LLP in Los Angeles, CA, and Frank M. Pitre of Pitre, Cotchett
& McCarthy in Burlingame, CA, as co-lead counsel. After more than
three years of intense work, including questioning scores of witnesses
under oath, poring over thousands of documents, and examining millions
of lines of software code, these lawyers and their firms won a $1.6 billion
settlement that will benefit approximately 22 million Toyota owners. Under
the settlement, the largest involving defective autos in history, 16 million
owners will have key parts related to unintended acceleration covered
under warranty, $250 million will compensate owners forced to sell their
vehicles at a loss, and $250 million will compensate owners who are not
eligible for the safety upgrades available to other class members. Toyota
will also pay $30 million to fund automotive safety research and driver
education.
Melton v. General Motors
After Brooke Melton noticed serious problems with her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt,
including the engine shutting off while she was driving, she took her
vehicle to the local dealership. A day after she picked it up, her Cobalt
suddenly lost power, veered into oncoming traffic, was struck by another
vehicle, and rolled into a creek. Melton did not survive.
At the request of Melton’s parents, Lance Cooper of The Cooper Firm,
a sole practitioner in Marietta, GA, launched an investigation into her
death. When Cooper initially filed Melton v. General Motors, he believed
the accident was caused by a defect related to a power-steering recall
issued by GM one week earlier. But Cooper and the experts he hired determined
that the real cause was a defective ignition switch — a defective
ignition switch now famous nationwide. Cooper showed that GM had known
about the deadly switch long before the accident. He exposed a corporate
cover-up and inadequate federal regulation, leading to a Congressional
investigation, a large settlement for the Melton family, and GM recalling
over 2.5 million cars.
People of California v. Atlantic Richfield
In California, tens of thousands of children each year have blood lead
levels that exceed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention threshold,
which cause brain damage and developmental disabilities. There is virtual
unanimity in the medical and scientific community that the primary cause
of lead poisoning in children is the lead paint in their homes. The only
way to prevent it is to remove or remediate the paint. Until that happens,
the poisoning and suffering will not end. In 2009 alone, 10,875 children
— many low-income, minority children — were poisoned in just
10 California cities and counties.
In 2000, these cities and counties sued several of the country’s
largest lead pigment manufacturers for promoting the use of lead paint
in homes for decades before it was banned in 1978, even though its danger
to children had been known since the early 1900s. The lawsuit, People
of California v. Atlantic Richfield, charged that lead paint in homes
is a public nuisance that has to be removed. The local governments sought
help from a team of plaintiffs’ attorneys led by (in alphabetical
order) Mary Alexander of Mary Alexander & Associates in San Francisco,
CA, Joseph W. Cotchett and Nancy L. Fineman of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy
in Burlingame, CA, Peter Earle of the Law Office of Peter Earle in Milwaukee,
WI, and Fidelma Fitzpatrick of Motley Rice in Providence, RI. After a
13-year odyssey that culminated in a seven-week trial, the team –
including over 20 other lawyers from these firms and the governments of
Alameda County, Los Angeles County, Monterey County, Oakland, San Diego,
San Francisco, San Mateo County, the County of Santa Clara, Solano County,
and Ventura County – won a landmark ruling that ConAgra, NL Industries
and Sherwin-Williams created a public nuisance and had to pay $1.15 billion
into a state-run abatement fund to fund inspections and lead paint removal
in tens of thousands of homes.
State of New Hampshire v. Hess Corporation, et al.
For nearly 20 years, ExxonMobil and other oil companies added MTBE (short
for methyl tertiary butyl ether) to gasoline sold throughout the country.
The oil companies knew, among other things, that MTBE caused cancer in
rodents and that it posed a specific threat of contaminating New Hampshire’s
aquifers and groundwater because of the state’s sensitive hydrogeology.
Rather than disclose the health and environmental risks to government
officials, the oil companies told them and the public that gasoline with
MTBE was as safe as any other gasoline, and used the additive. As a result,
over 40,000 private drinking wells in New Hampshire were contaminated
with MTBE, over 5,000 of which were higher than the state’s maximum
contaminant level.
For nearly a decade, litigators pursued justice for the state in New Hampshire
v. Hess Corporation et al., a groundwater contamination case against 23
oil companies, including the single biggest MTBE-laced gas supplier, ExxonMobil.
After all but two of the companies settled, lead counsel Jessica L. Grant
of Venable LLP in San Francisco, CA, working closely with Sean Kiley of
Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass and Krishna Juvvadi, formerly of Sher
Leff LLP, in San Francisco, CA, as well as attorneys from the New Hampshire
Attorney General’s Office, tried the groundwater contamination case
against ExxonMobil and Citgo. After a three-month trial, the largest and
most complex in New Hampshire history, the team won a record-setting $816
million jury verdict — every penny sought — which will cover
cleanup costs and pay for testing and monitoring of every private well
and public drinking water system in the state.”
If you or a loved one have been injured by the negligence of another, please
give us a call today to schedule a consultation with a Norfolk personal
injury attorney, please visit the website and fill out the convenient
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