Auto Crash Suit Dismissed; Lawyers Fined
A Texas state judge on Thursday dismissed a $2-billion product liability lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler and slapped three San Antonio attorneys with a $920,000 fine after ruling they had tampered with evidence and attempted to bribe witnesses, the auto maker said.
Texas District Judge David Peeples assessed the sanctions against Robert Kugle, Trey Wilson and Andrew Toscano of the Kugle Law Firm in San Antonio, and indicated he would report them to the Bexar County district attorney and the State Bar of Texas, the world’s No. 5 auto maker said.
The attorneys could not be reached to comment.
DaimlerChrysler officials, who have been aggressive in pursuing legal action against attorneys they believe file abusive lawsuits, celebrated the ruling.
“This is the most flagrant example of misconduct I’ve seen in more than 20 years as a lawyer, DaimlerChrysler associate general counsel Ken Gluckman said in a statement.
The initial lawsuit arose out of an accident near Sabinas, Mexico, in June 1996. Four of seven people riding in a 1995 Dodge Neon died, including three children, when the car rolled over.
Bridgett Fabila filed the $2-billion lawsuit against the former Chrysler in June 1998, alleging the small car’s steering decoupler--a joint that separates in head-on collisions to prevent the steering column from impaling the driver--was defective, having been broken.
In a deposition, one of the law firm’s investigators, Thomas Persing, gave DaimlerChrysler photographs showing an undamaged decoupler, in stark contrast to photos showing a broken part provided by the law firm during the trial, DaimlerChrysler said.
The auto maker also alleged that the attorneys, through a different investigator, tried to bribe two Mexican highway patrol officers in an attempt to change their testimony and threatened the family of a Red Cross official who said Fabila told him the accident occurred because her husband fell asleep behind the wheel.
