LARGEST SIDE AIRBAG VERDICT IN COUNTRY

 

Elwood I. Kaplan and Norma Kaplan, his wife vs. Daimler Chrysler, A.G. f/k/a Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft and Mercedes-Benz U.S.A., Inc. f/k/a Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc.

 

On November 16, 1998, Elwood Kaplan, a 75-year-old retiree living in Naples, Florida, was driving his 1999 S420 Mercedes when a Dodge Durango struck the Mercedes on the driver’s door at approximately 25 miles per hour. Although the Mercedes was equipped with a driver’s door airbag, the airbag failed to deploy. As a result, Mr. Kaplan’s left arm was forced outside the broken driver’s door window during the impact and was torn off just below the shoulder by the intruding Durango.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan were referred to us by other lawyers who were familiar with our prior cases against automobile manufacturers. After carefully inspecting the Kaplan vehicle with the assistance of investigators and expert witnesses we determined that the airbag should have deployed in this accident. We initially filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan against the driver of the Dodge Durango and the Kaplan’s uninsured motorist carrier. During the trial of that case a settlement was reached for $1,800,000. Thereafter we filed a second lawsuit, this time against Mercedes, claiming that had the airbag deployed it would have kept Mr. Kaplan’s arm inside the car and he would have suffered no serious injury in the accident.

 

Mercedes defended vigorously. Mercedes argued that the airbag was not designed to deploy in this accident because the Mercedes did not get hit hard enough by the Durango and, even it if had, it would not have kept Mr. Kaplan’s arm inside the car.

During pre-trial discovery we learned that the Kaplan Mercedes was equipped with a “black box” which recorded accident-related data. Despite continuous efforts and legal battles, however, we were never able to access the data. Incredibly, the Mercedes defendants claimed that they had no ability to print out the data and the case therefore went to trial without the benefit of that data. Accident reconstruction experts for both sides rendered opinions in the case without knowing what was in the black box.

 

The Kaplans initially offered to settle with Mercedes for a new car. When the Defendants refused, the Kaplans filed suit in October, 1999. Mercedes’ only settlement offer prior to trial was an offer of judgment for $200. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict for $2,250,000. The jury specifically found that the side airbag system in the Kaplan’s brand new car was defective and that the airbag should have deployed in this accident. When added to the original settlement of $1,800,000 with the driver of the Durango and the Kaplan’s uninsured motorist carrier the Kaplan’s total recovery was $4,050,000. This was the first successful verdict in the country against Mercedes involving a side airbag in one of their vehicles. Mercedes appealed and the appellate court affirmed the verdict. Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan subsequently collected the full amount of the jury’s award.

 

The Kaplans were so pleased with the outcome of the trial that they took the extraordinary step of spending $7,000 of their own money to place a full page “Thank You” ad in the Fort Myers, Florida newspaper where the case was tried. It is the only case we have ever heard of where a client has done that. A copy of the advertisement is here.