polaris atv brakes are fine says jury
Amsnow
A lawsuit heard in a San Luis Obispo, California, court seeking up to a half-million dollars against Polaris Industries was kicked by a 12-man jury after 10-minutes of deliberation.
After a four-week trial, a central California jury on July 10 returned a unanimous defense verdict in favor of Polaris Industries after deliberating 10 minutes.
The lawsuit stemmed from a June 25, 2000 accident near Pismo Beach, when Theriot lost control of his ATV and skidded off the road. Theriot claimed the rear brakes in his 1993 Polaris Trail Boss 250 ATV did not operate in neutral, resulting in an inability to stop the vehicle when it suddenly popped out of gear and forcing him and his wife to jump from the ATV, leaving his left hand severely broken.
The 12-person jury found no design defect in the rear brake system of the 1993 Polaris Trail Boss 250 ATV, as plaintiff Dennis Theriot claimed.
He alleged the accident could have been prevented had his ATV been designed with rear brakes in neutral. He claimed that Polaris could have easily designed an ATV with rear brakes in neutral by installing a mechanical foot brake. In addition, he claimed Polaris was the only ATV manufacturer to have a design with no rear brakes in neutral.
During trial, Polaris attorneys and their experts demonstrated to the jury that Theriot's ATV could have been stopped at the accident scene by applying the front brakes gradually, instead of locking them. Plaintiffs' own expert demonstrated this in a video, and was subsequently withdrawn by plaintiffs, but Polaris was able to play his video for the jury.
Second, Polaris showed through a computer simulation created by another plaintiff's expert that had the ATV been equipped with front and rear brakes in neutral, it would have stopped only 0.18 seconds faster - and in either case would still have gone off the road.
Throughout the trial, Polaris attorneys maintained Theriot should not have been riding the single-rider vehicle with his wife, as the additional rider interfered with his ability to operate the controls and ultimately caused him to panic and jam the brakes by applying too much pressure.
Plaintiff requested an award between $300,000-500,000 for loss of earning capacity, plus future surgery costs for three or more operations, past medical expenses and wage loss, and pain and suffering.
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