Mitsubishi Ordered To Pay $11 Million For Death Resulting From Defective Seatbelt
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Amy RothschildMarch 04, 2008 12:16 PMOn February 26, 2008, a jury in Palm Beach County in Florida, ordered Mitsubishi to pay $11 million in damages to the parents whose 25 year old son died after being partially ejected from a sports utility vehicle. Of this amount, $10 million dollars was awarded for their son's pain and suffering and the rest was awarded for funeral expenses and other losses. Scott Laliberte, the deceased, was involved in a rollover accident in 2004 and died four hours after the accident. Even though he was properly belted on the passenger side, he was thrown out of the rear window.
The lawyers for the parents claimed that Mitsubishi marketed and sold its Montero SUV despite having knowledge that its seatbelts had problems. Donna and Peter Laliberte of Maine argued that Mitsubishi put its Montero SUV on the market despite known problems with the seat belt. The family's laywers further argued that Mitsubishi released a new version of the vehicle halfway through the 2000 model year to correct the flaws but never told customers about the defect in the earlier model.
While Mitsubishi's attorney stated that the new model was not redesigned to correct flaws in the seatblet, and rather, focused on the vehicle's front structure, he did acknowledge that the changes were a result of poor crash tests. Mitsubishi has suffered from various accusations and assaults in recent years over defects in some of its vehicles which Mitsubishi first attempted to hide. The scandal first surfaced in 2000, when Mitsubishi admitted it had hidden defects from the public for years. Instead of immediately initiating recalls after dozens of accidents, Mitsubishi secretly repaired the vehicles. Mitsubishi later acknowledged it had hidden defects for decades.
Even though the family and their son were from Maine, the legal action was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court because the Mitsubishi has business operations in the area.