Product Liability / Auto Seat Back

11/21/2006 - Confidential

Rothering v. DaimlerChrysler Corporation and Thomas Brown, Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Maryland. When the passenger’s front seat in a 2004 Dodge Caravan collapsed in a rear impact, the passenger’s head struck his two-year-old son’s head, causing his son’s death from a severe skull fracture and catastrophic brain injury. Plaintiffs had evidence that Chrysler had known for years that its seatbacks were failing in rear impacts, as shown in its own rear crash tests and from its notice of real world incidents where occupants located behind the minivan’s seats were injured or killed when those seats failed in rear impacts.

The wreck occurred when the Rothering’s minivan was rear ended by Thomas Brown’s vehicle. Because Mr. Brown caused the wreck, plaintiffs also filed claims against him. At the defendants’ request, the amount of the settlement is confidential.