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GM Ordered to
Pay $14.2 Million in Park-to-Reverse Fatality
Copyright
© Strategic Safety 1999.
Reprinted with
permission from Strategic Safety News, Vol. 2, Issue 6, Nov./Dec.
1999.
An Arizona jury ordered
GM to pay $14.2 million to the family of a Scottsdale woman who was
crushed to death in 1997 when her 1987 GMC Sierra pickup truck rolled
back over her.
Ruth Golonka, 67, had
stopped to pick up some chairs that were being discarded by a neighbor.
She pulled to the side of the road, shifted the vehicle’s transmission
into "park" and left it idling. When she went got out and went behind
her vehicle to load the chairs, it unexpectedly shifted into reverse,
causing the truck to suddenly roll backward crushing her under the
wheels and entangling her body in the drive train. The police
investigative report indicated that the truck had jumped back into the
"reverse" position several times when the police officer at the scene
attempted to shift it into park.
Mrs. Golonka’s family
sued GM claiming that her death was the result of a defective
transmission that caused the truck to suddenly shift into reverse and
back over her. Her attorneys claimed that GM had known of a defect in
the trucks’ transmission and the transmission systems of other vehicles
for more than 25 years. Prior to trial, they had uncovered more than
2,000 other park-to-reverse incidents, at least 200 of which involved
serious injuries and deaths. After a pre-trial evidentiary hearing, the
court ruled that 400 of those incidents were so substantially similar
they could be admitted into evidence.
Golonka’s attorneys
claim that although GM has defended more than 140 lawsuits related to
park-to-reverse incidents in which judgments as high as $20,000,000 were
entered against the automaker, it continued to resist inexpensive design
changes. Ron Elwell, a former GM engineer who had testified on behalf of
GM many times during the 27 years he was with the company, testified in
the Golonka case that he was told by a high-ranking GM official in the
early 1980s that engineers should stop spending company dollars to makes
its vehicles safer than federal government requirements. There was other
testimony about two internal GM documents wherein GM compared the cost
of design changes to the cost of lawsuits.
The Maricopa County
Superior Court jury found GM grossly negligent and awarded Mrs.
Golonka’s husband and five children $7 million in compensatory damages
and $10 million in punitive damages, finding that GM gave inadequate
warning of a potential problem with the vehicle and could be responsible
for 60% of the accident. However, the jury also found that Ms. Golonka
was 40% responsible and the compensatory award was reduced to $4.2
million.
GM, as expected, and as
it had done in the previous incidents, took the position that there was
no basis for the award and that the incident was the result of driver
error. Following the trial, GM issued the following statement placing
the fault entirely on the decedent:
"This unfortunate
incident occurred when Mrs. Golonka left her vehicle with the engine
running, the transmission not in Park and without setting the parking
brake, as instructed in her owner’s manual. The manual tells drivers how
to properly part their vehicle and informs them of the possible
consequences of not doing so. After holding Mrs. Golonka responsible for
not following the instructions in the owner’s manual and finding the
shift system was not defective, the jury nonetheless awarded damages.
General Motors extends its sympathy to the Golonka family for the tragic
loss they have suffered, but we do not believe there is any basis for
this award. GM, like all manufacturers, continually makes improvements
to its products and manuals. We do not believe these efforts should be
used to support the awarding of compensatory damages, much less punitive
damages. GM will appeal this verdict."
Plaintiff’s experts were
Mel Richardson (engineering and defect) and Dr. Mark Sanders (warnings
and ergonomics). GM called Richard Keefer of Exponent (formerly Failure
Analysis) on design and Jane Welch on warnings. (Golonka v. GM,
Maricopa
County Superior Court. Plaintiffs counsel: Adam Studnicki and Robert
Boatman of Gallagher & Kennedy, Phoenix, AZ).
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