In a predictable but disturbing move, lawyers for Fiat and Chrysler have asked a bankruptcy judg to allow Fiat to avoid taking responsibility for product liability claims arising from defective Chrysler vehicles if Fiat buys Chryser. As reported in the New York Times, Fiat says it would be "unfair" to require it to take on this responsiblity if it buys Chrysler's assets.
Unfair? What about the people who were injured or killed by defects in Chrysler cars, trucks and SUVs. There are all kinds of Chrysler vehicle defects that have injured and killed hundreds of people - defects like airbags, weak roofs on trucks and SUVs that rollover too easily, seat belt and seat back defects.
My firm, Champion Law LLC, represent two people in automotive defect product liability cases against Chrysler who suffered catastrophic injuries when the airbags in their vehicles failed to deploy in severe crashes. Pictures of the vehicles are shown above. If Fiat and Chrysler get their way, my clients and hundreds - if not thousands - of other innocent personal injury victims will be left uncompensated. Medical bills pile up and these people can't work. Unfair? I'd say so.
Think about this - under the plan that Chrysler and Fiat are proposing, banks and other investors would get paid and personal injury victims would not. This, in my view, is backwards. The people who invested money in Chrysler did so knowing that, like any investment, there are risks involved. Personal injury victims, on the other hand, did not sign up to be hurt or maimed and accept the risk of going uncompensated.
Fortunately, product liability attorneys and other consumer advocate groups have been advocating on behalf of victims injured by defective Chrysler cars, trucks and SUVs. If you have questions about Chryler bankruptcy or automotive defects in general, contact product liability attorney Nate Bjerke at 651.766.5886 or visit Champion Law's web-site. Nate spent more than a decade defending the automotive industry in product liabilty cases and knows how to get them to take responsibility for their mistakes.
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