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San Diego Jury Awards $14.4 Million in Wrongful Death Lawsuit

A jury in San Diego has awarded $14 .4 million in a wrongful death lawsuit to the children of a couple who were killed in an automobile accident linked to a tire blowout. The accident occurred in July 2006. Casey Barber and his wife were driving on Highway 98 in Arizona, when their Ford E350 Sportsmobile van lost control and flipped over. Both husband and wife were killed. The accident was later traced to tire tread separation of the right tire of the van. Their children were just eight, three and five years old at the time. They now live with their aunt and a husband.

According to the attorneys for the victims, the San Diego car dealership Mossy Ford failed to fix the tire properly in 2005. The company should have put the tire off service, but did not. The company has also reached a post-verdict settlement with the plaintiff’s attorneys under which Mossy will immediately begin to follow industry guidelines for tire repair. The company will also implement a technician training program to improve safety.

A tire blowout or explosion is one of the leading causes of rollover accidents in the country. These accidents are some of the most devastating, and can result in serious injuries or death. Rollover accidents account for just a small percentage of the total number of accidents that occur in the US every year, but make a substantial percentage of the total number of auto accident fatalities every year. Approximately 3% of all accidents in the country every year are rollover accidents, but these fatalities account for about 30% of all auto accident fatalities every year.

When a vehicle has poor worn-out or defective tires, it is at a much higher risk of a rollover. In fact, the risk of tire failure increases when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds. Besides, tread separations can have a much more devastating impact when it occurs in an SUV or pickup truck, than a sedan or any other passenger vehicle.

Vehicles with a high center of gravity like a sports utility vehicle or pickup truck or a minivan are at a much higher risk of a rollover accident.  If the tire on one of these vehicles blows out or explodes, the driver may be at a much higher risk of losing control of the vehicle. In such vehicles, the vehicle design can quickly lead to loss of control, causing the vehicle to flip over. In rollover accidents, California injury lawyers find that most injuries and fatalities are passengers, ejected from the vehicle. When passengers are wearing seat belts, they may be partially ejected from the vehicle, and may sustain life-threatening injuries.

While manufacturers of sports utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans have reduced the risk of rollover in their vehicles by incorporating electronic stability control systems in these cars, the risk of rollover continues to exist when these vehicles are equipped with defective or worn-out tires.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including any victims in a wrongful death lawsuit. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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