The death of actor Anton Yelchin last summer, who died when his Jeep Grand Cherokee crushed him as he was checking his mailbox at his home in Los Angeles, was viewed at first as a freak accident.
However, an investigation of the accident revealed that the Jeep’s electronic gear selector could be contributing to a spate of ‘rollaway’ incidents.
Fiat Chrysler recalled more than one million Jeeps and other models to modify the gear selector. The company has stated that it knows of 212 accident with 41 injuries.
Now two Jeep owners have filed personal injury lawsuits against Jeep, with one of the Jeep owners residing in Virginia.
A woman from Charlottesville VA claims that she suffered severe ankle sprains, soft tissue injuries and lacerations to her heels and feet when her Jeep rolled backwards onto her.
The suit states that Holcomb stopped in her driveway to put mail in her mailbox. She placed the Jeep in park, opened the door, and got out. She claims that the Jeep started to roll, and the open door pushed her onto the ground and the front wheel ran over her feet and ankles.
Fiat Chrysler has been the subject of a class action lawsuit, which alleges that the gear shift defect affects 811,000 vehicles.
Our View
As product defect attorneys in Virginia, we know just how many thousands of consumers are seriously hurt or even killed by defective and faulty products that are improperly designed or manufactured.
One of the key questions is whether the company knew about the defect from earlier accidents and failed to fix the problem. An experienced product defect attorney will carefully investigate this question.
With careful preparation and research, and the right facts, a product defect lawsuit can result in a successful settlement or verdict providing compensation to the injured person.
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