By
JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
A Naples woman who received a debilitating
brain injury when her van crashed into a boulder has settled
her lawsuit against General Motors Corp., and the complicated,
three-week trial that ended in deadlock in June will not
be tried again, her lawyer and the automobile manufacturer
said Wednesday.
Terms of the settlement were not released.
Maria Allen, who lives in Naples, claimed that a defective
seat and seat belt in her Chevrolet Lumina were to blame
for the brain injury she received in the March 2, 1999 crash.
She had significant medical bills, will never again be able
to hold a job and will need care for the rest of her life.
She asked jurors to award her several million dollars.
During the last week of May and the first two weeks of July,
Allen's lawyer and lawyers for GM presented jurors with testimony
from experts in car seat design, crash reconstruction and
kinematics - the science of how bodies move inside vehicles
during crashes. They brought in an actual-size fiberglass
model of the rock that Allen hit.
Allen's lawyer, Larry Coben, of Scottsdale, Ariz., introduced
GM memos that described an internal debate between engineers
and other company officials over the safety of seats like
the ones in Allen's van.
Ultimately, the eight jurors were divided 4-4, and Cumberland
County Superior Court Justice Robert Crowley declared a mistrial.
The case was scheduled to be tried again early next year.
In June, Coben said he and GM had discussed a settlement
throughout the case. Wednesday, he said it had been settled
within the past 30 days.
"The parties agreed to a confidential settlement and
the case is over," he said. "I am not at liberty
to discuss any of the terms," he said.
Brenda Rios, a GM spokeswoman, also declined to offer specifics.
"I can say that both parties are satisfied," she
said.
Leon Russell, a lawyer in Dallas who on Wednesday rested
his case in a similar lawsuit against GM, and who traveled
to Maine to watch the Allen case, said the settlement likely
will have little impact in other such cases.
"The fact that it was a hung jury leaves it sort of
undecided or unmeaningful on both sides," he said. "The
best conclusions are probably drawn from those cases where
the jury does make conclusions - up or down."
|
