Jury Decides DaimlerChrysler Not at Fault in Catalina Island Accident
2 April 1999
Jury Decides DaimlerChrysler Not at Fault in Catalina Island AccidentLOS ANGELES, April 1 -- It took a Los Angeles County jury just over four hours today to exonerate DaimlerChrysler in a $16 million product liability lawsuit. The lawsuit stemmed from the death of Laura Stein on May 27, 1993, in an accident on Catalina Island. "Ms. Stein's death was a tragedy," said DaimlerChrysler's Assistant General Counsel Steve Hantler. "We have contended from the beginning of this lawsuit that this was never an issue of a product defect, but rather the invention of a trial attorney in an attempt to explain away the obvious: this was a car accident." Ms. Stein was traveling above the speed limit at 35 to 43 miles per hour on a dangerous, narrow, unguarded stretch of road. When she was unable to negotiate a turn, her vehicle crashed into a nearly two-foot high berm and shot off a cliff. Plaintiff's counsel contended that the steering sector shaft broke on the Dodge Ram 150 Van prior to the berm hit, but the jury accepted DaimlerChrysler's argument that the accident caused the shaft to break. "The jurors indicated after trial that it was obvious that what had happened was clearly not the result of any defect," Hantler said.