NATION IN BRIEF : TEXAS : Woman Gets Record Crash Judgment
A woman whose family burned to death in a 1982 car fire won a $43.2-million judgment in a state court in Houston against Toyota, the largest award ever entered against the company. Nike Adegbite, 36, had watched while her husband and two daughters died in the burning car. Two other people also died in the fire when the woman’s 1973 Toyota Corona station wagon caught fire after being rear-ended on a Houston highway. The plaintiff’s lawyer had argued that the crash pushed the station wagon’s fuel tank forward, puncturing the tank on an empty spare tire carrier and a valve on the rear axle.
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