Lawyer Confident Court Will Rule In Favor Of Family Of Pregnant Woman Who Died In Crash
DETROIT (WWJ) -- The attorney representing a family whose daughter was killed in a fiery car crash in November is confident that a lawsuit filed against Chrysler will end in their favor.
A Georgia jury awarded $150 million on Thursday to a family that sued Chrysler in a similar incident after their car exploded on impact, killing their 4-year-old.
Gerald Thurswell represents the family of 23-year-old Kayla White of Ferndale, who died after her Jeep Liberty exploded on the Lodge Freeway in November. White was eight months pregnant at the time of the incident.
Thurswell said that the cases are almost identical, and expects a similar outcome for his clients.
"This case is exactly like our case," Thurswell said. "At time of trial, we probably would produce the exact same evidence that they produced in Georgia. At the time of trial, we would expect a verdict very similar to the verdict in Georgia of $150 million."
Chrysler says the Jeep vehicles are not defective and are among the safest in the peer group.
"If you're in trial for two weeks and it takes a jury just an hour and a half to come back with a $150 million verdict, that means that the evidence against Chrysler was overwhelming," Thurswell said. "That evidence just confirms what we always believed, that the vehicle was defective and that Chrysler knew about it."
White's car burst into flames when she was struck from behind by what police believe was a distracted driver during the busy afternoon commute. Thurswell said that White's vehicle, a 2003 Jeep Liberty, was under a recall by Chrysler.
"They have known for quite some time that the car was defective and a rear-end collision could result in an explosion, the car catching on fire and people dying," Thurswell told WWJ's Sandra McNeil just after the incident. "They have known that for a long time for the Jeep Liberty which Kayla was driving on the day of the accident."
Thurswell said the fix is to add a trailer hitch to the bumper, but when White took her Jeep in she was told the part wasn't available.
