A 41 year old mother of three was tragically killed in a roll over accident when the SUV she was driving rolled over. The woman was driving on the highway with two passengers at the posted speed limit when a tractor trailer entered her lane of traffic. She managed to maneuver her vehicle to miss the oncoming tractor trailer but as a result entered the grassy median at about 45 mph. Upon entering the median the SUV rolled over multiple times and traveled 150 feet to the other side of the freeway. Although the driver was wearing her seatbelt she was partially ejected from the vehicle.
Stewart Eisenberg and Daniel Sherry represented the young woman in a case against the automobile manufacturer. Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Sherry argued that the vehicle was not designed in a way to prevent serious injury when a crash occurs. The manufacturer of the SUV did not design the vehicle to be crashworthy because the seatbelt was improperly designed. The seatbelt system was attached to the roof of the vehicle which when rolled over created slack in the belt allowing for movement and partial ejection of the driver. The roof of the vehicle depended heavily on the windshield for support which is the first to fail in a roll over accident. Had the belt been attached to the seat of the vehicle, no slack would have been created and the driver would have not been partially ejected from the vehicle. To further complicate matters the windows of the SUV were made with tempered glass that is known to shatter upon impact which created the hole in the side window for the driver to exit through. Other options were available to the manufacturer that would have saved the life of this young woman but because they were not taken the jury agreed with Mr. Eisenberg and awarded the family of the woman $2.75 million.
