Irvine Man Wins Settlement From GM : Court: Jury awards him $1.2 million for injuries suffered when his pickup truck slipped out of gear and crushed him.

An Orange County jury has decided that General Motors must pay $1.2 million to an Irvine man who suffered a crushed hip and serious stomach injuries when his pickup truck slipped out of gear and pinned him against a neighbor’s car.

The Superior Court jury initially awarded $2.6 million to Kenneth W. Wagner but reduced the award by 55% after deciding that the 53-year-old toolmaker was partially at fault because he had jumped behind the moving vehicle to try to stop it.

Wagner would not comment Thursday, but his wife, Sally, said she was shocked by the jury’s decision. She said her husband’s medical bills total more than $400,000, and she still must pay attorneys’ fees.

“It’s taken us 5 1/2 years to get to this point, to fight this far, and what do we have to show for it?” Sally Wagner said, her voice breaking. “This has cost us everything we have. We’re left with nothing.”

GM attorneys were not available Thursday night, but during the trial they denied any responsibility for the accident, saying it was caused by Wagner’s “driving errors.”

During the trial, Wagner’s attorney, Tom Anderson of Indio, contended that GM officials knew as early as 1978 that their vehicles had defective transmissions.

Because of a design defect, some drivers have no way of telling that they have not shifted completely into park, Anderson said, and the shifting lever “jumps out of park” after a slight disturbance, such as closing a door.

Anderson predicted that the verdict may result in a flood of similar lawsuits against GM and other car manufacturers.

Defective transmissions “are like cocked guns ready to go off,” Anderson said. “It’s perplexing to me why GM and the others won’t try to save lives by correcting the problem.”

At the start of the six-week trial, Wagner testified that the accident occurred Dec. 17, 1988, as he was getting ready to leave his house for work.

Wagner said that when he started his 1988 Sierra pickup, he heard a loud noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. He left the engine running, shifted the truck into park and got out to investigate, he said.

But when he closed the driver’s door, the pickup lurched backward, he said.

Wagner, who weighs about 170 pounds, said he attempted to stop the 2 1/2-ton vehicle from crashing into his neighbor’s Mercedes-Benz, which was parked across the street.

But “it crushed me,” he testified. “I didn’t have time to escape.”

Wagner later underwent surgery to replace his left hip. Because of his internal injuries, he wears a bag outside his body to collect waste, his lawyer said.

Anderson said GM and other car companies have failed to correct the problem. He called to testify automotive engineers who said that correcting the problem would be inexpensive, as little as $1 per car for parts.

But GM’s lawyer, Jack Trigg of Denver, said Wagner was negligent because he had failed to set the parking brake, switch off the ignition or push the gear lever completely into park.

“If he had done one of those things, this accident would not have happened,” Trigg said.