Product Liability

By Curt Guyette
Metro Times
5/20/09

At the end of March, President Barack Obama gave a speech intended to reassure consumers worried about buying vehicles from a U.S. automaker facing the possibility of bankruptcy.

But GM won't concede defeat in $18.6 million jury award to woman paralyzed in 1997 crash.

Bill Vlasic / The Detroit News

It's been nearly nine years since Penny Shipler's spine was crushed when the roof of a 1996-model Chevrolet S-10 Blazer collapsed around her in a rollover accident.

But it wasn't until last week that the paralyzed Nebraska woman apparently won her long legal battle against General Motors Corp.

CAUSE NO. 155, 133B

PAUL J. CHESTNUT, etc., et al * IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF
*
Plaintiffs. *
*
vs. * WICHITA COUNTY, TEXAS
*
DAIMLER CHRYSLER, CORPORATION *
And MICHELIN NORTH AMERICA, *
INC., et al. * 78th JUDICIAL DISTRICT
*
Defendants. *


PUBLIC CITIZEN, INC. AND THE CENTER FOR AUTO SAFETY, INC.'S
PLEA IN INTERVENTION IN RESPONSE
TO MICHELIN NORTH AMERICA (CANADA), INC.
AND MICHELIN AMERICAS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

$106 million judgment against Chrysler and new safety studies intensify the debate over federal standards.

By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A massive jury verdict against DaimlerChrysler and some new studies have placed a spotlight o­n a little-debated safety issue -- how well seats protect occupants when a vehicle is struck from behind.