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Trial to Begin in Case that Claims GM Responsible for Death of Chiefs Star
July 19, 2004
A case that claims General Motors Corp. was responsible for the death of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas because of flawed vehicle design is set to go to trial this week.
Thomas died Feb. 8, 2000, about two weeks after his Chevrolet Suburban flipped several times during an icy snowstorm here. His mother, Edith Morgan, along with his seven children and their five mothers, claim Thomas' death at age 33 was a result of GM's shoddy construction of the sport utility vehicle, particularly its roof.
The lawsuit also names Royal Ventures Inc., the owner of the dealership that sold Thomas his SUV. A third defendant, Emergency Providers Inc., which operated Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust, reached a $100,000 settlement with the plaintiffs in March 2002 and was dismissed from the lawsuit.
Jury selection in the case was expected to conclude Tuesday; opening arguments were slated for Wednesday.
Thomas was not wearing his seat belt and witnesses said he was speeding along the ice-slicked road before skidding and flipping several times. He was thrown from the vehicle.
One of the passengers was killed and the other, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered minor injuries.
GM, in its response to the lawsuit, said Thomas' injuries were a result of his driving too fast and without a seat belt.
But the suit filed by Thomas' estate contends the NFL star's failure to wear a seat belt made little difference. It says the Suburban's defective design allowed the roof to crush down 8 to 10 inches, causing severe spinal injuries that left Thomas paralyzed.
"He sustained severe injuries before he was ejected from the vehicle," the suit claims.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not return phone calls to The Associated Press on Monday and a spokesman for GM declined to comment, citing Jackson County Circuit Judge J.D. Williamson Jr.'s order for all parties to remain silent.
The case will no doubt be watched closely by auto makers and auto safety advocates who have long been debating auto roof safety standards.
Joan Claybrook, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said regulations on automobile roofs are "ridiculously lax."
"Even if they comply with the standard, it's a useless standard," she said.
A voluminous highway and mass transit spending bill before Congress would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement improved safety standards in automobiles to deal with rollovers.
The NHTSA already has plans in place to propose upgraded roof crush standards in the next several months, the first overhaul of those regulations since 1971. The agency would not specify the upgrades it planned, but Claybrook, who led NHTSA from 1977 to 1981, said they would be looser than those mandated by the passage of the highway bill.
An estimated 72 percent of deaths in auto rollovers involve people not wearing their safety belts, according to the NHTSA. Officials with the agency, which is part of the Department of Transportation, said their proposed changes would primarily benefit occupants wearing seat belts.
"Our biggest challenge with rollovers right now has nothing to do with the strength of the roof; it has to do with not wearing restraints," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the agency.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington trade group that represents nine automakers, echoed the seat belt message. Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the group, said it has not come to a conclusion on roof standards, though it's been funding research on strength since early this year.
"We don't know yet whether they need to be changed," Shosteck said. "The best progress we can make now is making sure that everybody buckles up for every trip."
Thomas was hailed as the Chiefs' top pick of 1989, a skilled linebacker who helped transform the team from one of the NFL's most consistent losers to one of its most dominant.
"More than anybody in the last two decades, Derrick Thomas was the person people pictured as the Kansas City Chiefs," said Bob Moore, a spokesman who began work for the Chiefs the same year as Thomas.
The nine-time Pro Bowl player went down as one of football's leading defensive players of the '90s and one of the most feared defensive players in NFL history.
from associated press
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