Posted by The Toyota Airbag lawsuit was settled out of court. The plaintiff and defendants agreed to a settlement which was not seen as being too big to the defendant. It settled the case without going to trial. This is good news for all parties involved. It also shows that the courts tend to take people’s word over those of insurance companies when it comes to liability.
The plaintiff’s attorney in this case, Mark MacLennan, stated that he was happy with the result. He and the other plaintiffs wanted to press charges against Toyota because they claimed that the manufacturer knew about the defect long before it was brought to the attention of the public. But now, Toyota has admitted that they were aware of the problem long before an airbag lawsuit ever followed. So this is good news for the surviving family members of the deceased. They now get some compensation for their medical bills and pain and suffering.
Another thing to be happy about is that the guilty party has admitted to the charge. This means that the guilty party is willing to come to an agreement with the victims and the negligent party to make things right. Sometimes victims need to put pressure on people to come to reasonable agreements. This type of lawsuit has been proven to work in many cases.
The reason why this lawsuit went into arbitration was because of the injuries suffered by the victims. Some of these injuries included neck and back injuries, fractured bones, and injuries to the head and stomach. It is very difficult to imagine how any of these injuries could have been prevented if the Toyota airbag did not have an automatic safety system that automatically activates upon the discovery of an ejection hazard. But the rollover activated mechanism was found to be the problem in all four cases.
The seat belt protects the passengers in a vehicle. It is designed to prevent the vehicle occupant from being thrown out of the vehicle during a crash. This seat belt feature works when the vehicle occupants are in the front passenger seat or on the driver’s side. When the airbag deploys, the seat belt automatically pulls the passenger into the car. The problem occurred when the vehicle rollover activated the airbag. The lawsuit contends that the rollover caused the airbag to deploy prematurely, causing the injuries to the occupants of the vehicle.
The victim and the family of the deceased were awarded a settlement due to the wrongful death. This settlement is to pay medical bills, funeral expenses, and other losses incurred as a result of the negligent acts of the Toyota personnel. As the court case moved to trial, the defense moved for a jury trial. In an unusual move, the court denied the request for a trial because it felt that it would be unfair to allow the jury to decide whether the seat belt system in the motor vehicle was a product liability or a wrongful death case.