$4-Million Settlement Reached in Car Death
The family of a 4-year-old girl killed in a collision with an off-road vehicle equipped with a so-called “monster tire” that blew out will receive $4 million in a settlement with the tire’s manufacturer, distributor and seller, the family’s attorneys said Wednesday.
The settlement represents the largest amount ever won in a wrongful-death case involving a child in California, the lawyers said. Ordinarily, such cases result in settlements of between $200,000 and $400,000, they said.
The attorneys said the money in this case will be placed in an annuity and is expected to provide the mother and father of the girl with more than $10.6 million over their normal life span.
The agreement came in a lawsuit filed in Alameda Superior Court by Judy and Joseph Smith of Hayward, whose daughter, Sencera Alain Smith, died after a car driven by her mother, then 35, was struck head on by an off-road vehicle in September, 1985.
The suit alleges that the Smith car was demolished when the other vehicle, an elevated 1973 Chevrolet Blazer, suffered the blowout, struck a center divider and became airborne.
The legal action focused on a 36-inch-tall Grand Prix “high flotation” tire often used on increasingly popular off-road vehicles. The suit named as defendants Denman Rubber Co., the tire’s manufacturer; TBC Corp., its distributor; and Grand Auto Stores, the retailer in the case. The driver of the off-road vehicle, Kent Haskovec, was also sued, and that part of the case is pending.
The Smiths alleged that the tire could not be used on the vehicle without making dangerous modifications, raising the car’s center of gravity and making it unstable. The tire also was mislabeled, causing it to be over-inflated and prone to blow out, they said.
Andrew R. Gillin of Berkeley, an attorney for the Smiths, said the agreement would avoid a “protracted and painful” trial. He attributed the size of the settlement to the possibility that a sympathetic jury would have responded with “tremendous anger” and awarded substantial punitive damages against the defendants.
“This kind of vehicle presents an enormous danger,” Gillin said. “Kids jack them way up off the street and it impresses the girls--but the vehicle loses its handling capability. The other problem is the tires: they’re really way out of proportion for a light utility vehicle. . . . If they were on a 4-ton truck or a bus they’d be perfectly fine.”
Safety Defended
Officials of the three corporate defendants acknowledged that a settlement had been reached but would make only limited comment.
Bruce Levitin, senior vice president of Grand Auto, said the company agreed to the settlement in part “out of compassion for the family,” but defended the safety of the product.
“The tire was checked by tire experts and it was shown to be perfectly safe,” he said. “The accident was caused by a blowout on impact; it had nothing to do with the tire.”
Levitin said the company no longer sells the tire but that the decision had been made for economic reasons.
Robert J. Webster, president of Denman Rubber in Warren, Ohio, confirmed that his company had agreed to a settlement but declined further comment.
Similarly, Stanley Freedman of Dayton, Ohio, counsel for TBC, said the firm had settled with the family but had made “absolutely no admission” of liability.
Effect on Family
According to the family’s attorneys, the girl never regained consciousness. Two days after the accident, her father, a carpenter, was forced to withdraw life-support systems because his daughter’s severe head injuries had left her brain-dead, they said.
The girl’s mother, a nurse, was critically injured in the crash and will never be able to resume her career, the attorneys said. The Smiths will make a “significant gift” to Children’s Hospital of Oakland, where Sencera Smith was treated, the lawyers said.
