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CASES & INVESTIGATIONS |
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GENERAL INFORMATION |
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Family of Richard Mraz v. DaimlerChrysler:
$55 Million Verdict in Park-to-Reverse Case |
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| Millions Of DaimlerChrysler Vehicles In Use With Similar Park-to-Reverse Defect |
| March 7,
2007, Los Angeles, California -- Robert J. Nelson,
Scott P. Nealey, and Chuck Naylor, counsel for
Adriana Mraz and her three children in a wrongful
death action against DaimlerChrysler Corporation,
announced that a California-state jury today returned
a $54.4 million punitive damages award against
DaimlerChrysler for knowing about and intentionally
failing to cure a defect in millions of its vehicles.
On March 2, 2007, the same jury found DaimlerChrysler
liable for the death of Richard Mraz and returned
a verdict of $5.2 million in compensatory damages
for Mrs. Mraz and her children. |
| On April
13, 2004, Mr. Mraz suffered fatal head
injuries when the 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup
truck he had been driving at his work
site, the San Pedro/Long Beach Maritime
Terminal, ran him over after he exited
the vehicle believing it was in park.
The jury found that a defect in the Dodge
Dakota’s automatic transmission,
called a park-to-reverse defect, played
a substantial factor in Mr. Mraz’s
death and that DaimlerChrysler was negligent
in the design of the vehicle for failing
to warn of the defect and then for failing
to adequately recall or retrofit the
vehicle. |
| "Richard
was a loving husband and father who was
just 38 years old when he died," stated
Adriana Mraz. "He struggled for 17
days to stay alive after the accident and
never regained full consciousness. When
I found out many people have been injured
by the same defect, and some even killed,
I was determined to hold DaimlerChrysler
accountable. I am deeply grateful to the
members of the jury for their hard work
and for sending a strong message to DaimlerChrysler
that it must finally fix the defect in
millions of its vehicles." |
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| Read
a commentary on the Mraz verdict
by Lieff Cabraser attorney Robert
J. Nelson responding to certain
statements made by a spokesperson
for DaimlerChrysler Corporation. |
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| "Mr. Mraz died and left behind a wife and three children because DaimlerChrysler put short-term profits ahead of the safety of its customers," commented attorney Robert J. Nelson. "Had DaimlerChrysler dealt with the defect many years ago when customers first complained about park-to-reverse problems, Mr. Mraz and others would be alive today." |
| Plaintiff's co-counsel Scott P. Nealey noted, "The evidence was clear that the park-to-reverse defect in the Dodge Dakota, Ram, and Jeep Grand Cherokee allows a driver such as Mr. Mraz to place their vehicle into what appears to be the park position. The vehicle does not move when the driver pulls their foot from the brake, but in fact, the transmission is between gears. From this position, the vehicle can have a dangerous delayed engagement of powered reverse after a few seconds or an even longer period." |
| The evidence presented at trial included that DaimlerChrysler had received well over a thousand park-to-reverse complaints, including complaints with 1988 through 2003 Dodge Dakotas, certain 1988 through 2006 Dodge Rams, and certain 1993 through 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees, over a period spanning more than a decade before Mr. Mraz was killed. These complaints were based on the same common defect. Senior management at DaimlerChrysler, however, failed to investigate the full extent of the problem out of fear it could expose the corporation to liability for injuries that had already occurred and because it would require a massive recall. |
| Plaintiffs' counsel introduced evidence that the defect could have been remedied with corrective action, which would have meant conceding a safety-related defect in much of DaimlerChrysler’s fleet. Faced with this expensive prospect, DaimlerChrysler never had its engineers conduct the "root cause analysis," or utilize the type of design failure mode effects analysis required as vehicle designs change -- which would have quickly isolated the failure in its design and identified a proper fix. |
| "When DaimlerChrysler finally determined that it had to do something about the problem in 2000 due to an ongoing NHTSA investigation, it chose to issue a 'voluntary recall' of the Dodge Dakota in 2000 to install a 'fix' that its safety office knew, and its engineers testified at trial that they knew, did not fix the park-to-reverse problem," stated Mr. Nealey. "The result is that today over a million vehicles, including 1988 to 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup trucks, are on the road with the same defect that caused the death of Mr. Mraz." |
| At trial, plaintiffs introduced into evidence a 1999 memorandum written by Antonius Brenders, Senior Manager in the Vehicle Safety Office at DaimlerChrysler. In the memo, Mr. Brenders discussed the pros and cons of doing a survey that the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency sought to determine the cause of the park-to-reverse incidents. One of the cons to doing such a survey was that doing so could provide “[p]roduct liability credence to a hypothesis we have long ignored” and "continually challenge." This "smoking gun" document showed that "DaimlerChrysler refused to properly investigate the cause of all the accidents, including those involving deaths, for liability reasons. |
| Chuck D. Naylor, a maritime lawyer in San Pedro, California, originally represented Mrs. Mraz. Later, Scott P. Nealey and Robert J. Nelson of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, joined with Mr. Naylor in the representation due to their extensive expertise in vehicle defect litigation. |
| "Hopefully, the verdict will cause DaimlerChrysler to change its conduct and save the lives of others," noted Chuck D. Naylor. "Working as a team with Lieff Cabraser's expertise on the defect issues and my expertise on the long shore aspects of the case was key to the successful resolution of the lawsuit." |
| Click where
indicated to read a copy
of the jury
verdict or the 1999
memorandum referred to above. |
| Vehicle owners who wish to learn more or contact plaintiffs’ counsel to report any injuries they have suffered as a result of the park-to-reverse defect should visit www.vehicle-injuries.com. |
Robert J. Nelson, 415-956-1000
Scott P. Nealey, 415-407-1934 (cell) |
| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, is a national law firm of over 50 lawyers with offices in San Francisco,
New York and Nashville. Our attorneys are recognized
for the successful prosecution of lawsuits involving deaths, personal injuries
and property damage due to defective products, including in the field of vehicle
safety. |
| In 2007, in the case
of Mraz
v. DaimlerChrysler, Lieff Cabraser
attorneys, with local co-counsel, obtained
the fourth largest verdict in California for
the year. At trial, plaintiffs showed that
a defective
transmission was responsible for making
a Dodge Dakota pickup shift into reverse and
run over Richard Mraz. |
| Currently, we are
prosecuting personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits involving cars, vans,
pickup trucks, SUVs, the Yamaha Rhino and other
vehicles. To learn more about the firm, click
here. |
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Drivers and passengers injured in auto crashes and pickup truck and SUV rollover
accidents, or families of loved ones who died, may be eligible to file lawsuits
against other drivers at fault or against the manufacturer of their vehicle if
the accident was due to a safety defect. Safety defects can include a high risk
of rolling
over, tire tread
separation, seat
belt failures and other defects. Learn
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