Firm Obtains Recovery For Family Of Driver Killed in Devastating Tire Blow Out
Categories: Auto Accidents & News, Results, Accidents
A 55-year old husband and father was operating his SUV on I-95 in Central
Florida when the right rear tire suffered a tread and outer steel belt
separation that caused the tire to blow out, ultimately resulting in him
losing control of the vehicle. The four-door SUV entered the median and
rolled over multiple times before landing on its roof.
Although the driver of the vehicle was properly seat belted, the roof structure
over his seated position crushed downward and inward causing extensive
head injury and cervical spine fractures. The driver died at the hospital
from a cardiac arrest attributed to massive traumatic spinal damage and
brain injury inflicted by the collapsing roof.
Attorneys W. Hampton Keen and David C. Prather brought product defect claims
against the designer and manufacturer of the tire, as well as the designer
and manufacturer of the SUV. The tire claims were based on the lack of
nylon overlays in the tire, a well-known separation countermeasure. The
claims against the vehicle centered on the design of the vehicle's
suspension that rendered it uncontrollable in the event of a rear tire
separation, coupled with the lack of rollover occupant survival space
protection due to the weak roof structures.
Keen and Prather achieved confidential settlements from both the tire and
SUV manufacturer before trial started.