General Motors Must Pay $17M in Transmission
Suit
By Tara Teichgraeber
Business Journal, December 31, 1999
Attorneys at Gallagher
& Kennedy celebrated a big win after a Maricopa County Superior Court
jury handed down a $17 million verdict against General Motors Corp.
Attorneys Robert Boatman and Adam Studnicki
filed suit against the automaker on behalf of the
Golonka family. The suit claimed Ruth Golonka of
Scottsdale
was killed nearly three years ago after her 1987 GMC Sierra pickup truck
slipped out of "park" into "reverse" and crushed her.
The 67-year-old had
pulled off the road to pick up something a neighbor had left outside,
when the vehicle lurched backward, killing her.
Boatman and Studnicki
told the court that GM was aware of the transmission defect and had
received 2,000 reports of other "park-to-reverse" incidents. They also
presented evidence saying GM denied there was a problem and told
engineers not to spend any more money on safety precautions than
required by the federal government.
"The jury, in its
wisdom, saw through GM’s weak arguments and found the auto giant was
more interested in the dollar than in its customers’ safety," Studnicki
said.
The Golonka family
received $10 million in punitive damages and $7 million in actual
damages.
Reprinted with
permission of Business Journal. |
