Alex C. Hardy v. General Motors Corp. and Capitol Chevrolet, Inc. and Thelma R. Hardy v. General Motors Corp. 6/3/96

Alex C. Hardy v. General Motors Corp. and Capitol Chevrolet, Inc. and Thelma R. Hardy v. General Motors Corp., Circuit Court for Lowndes County, Alabama (6/3/96)

Believed by industry observers to be the largest verdict in automotive product liability history (at the time) and the largest verdict ever rendered against GM (the nation's largest automaker), the jury's award included $40 million in compensatory damages for Alex Hardy, $10 million in loss of consortium damages for his wife, Thelma Hardy and $100 million in punitive damages against GM. Plaintiffs proved that GM had been aware that this defect was killing and injuring Americans for at least 14 years but that GM consciously chose not to recall the defective door latches or warn the public. Plaintiffs proved GM engineers, lawyers, and executives had privately labeled the performance of the latch as a "problem," "substandard," and "unacceptable," and had quietly settled all such cases and refused to produce the internal documents showing its guilty knowledge until 1994, when the time for NHTSA to force a recall of the latches expired.

GM appealed the verdict and filed a motion for a new trial. The case settled for a confidential amount in November of 1996.

At Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, we have the resources and experience it takes to successfully pursue complex personal injury, wrongful death , product Liability litigation. Contact us today. We would be happy to discuss your case with you.

$45,000,000 Settlement | Credit Insurance/Consumer Rights Class Action

10/31/07 Toole v. J.M.I.C. Life Insurance Company, Superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia

Plaintiff Toole represented a class of people who prepaid J.M.I.C. Life Insurance Company premiums for credit life and disability insurance policies when they purchased vehicles. J.M.I.C. Life Insurance Company contractually promised to refund any unearned premium if class members paid off the insured loans before the five-year term had expired, but failed to do so when they paid off the insured loans early.

$105,500,000 Verdict | Defective Automobile

11/23/04 Flax v. Daimler Chrysler Corporation and Louis A. Stockell, Jr., Circuit Court for Davidson County, Tennessee

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Any person who foreseeably could have been injured by a defective product can recover for his or her injuries, as long as the product was sold to someone...

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With offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia, the attorneys at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP represent the seriously injured throughout Georgia, including the cities of Atlanta, Columbus, Marietta, Smyrna, Roswell, Gainesville, Peachtree City, Forest Park, Riverdale, Lagrange, Macon, and Savannah. Our lawyers have handled accident and defective product claims nationwide, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.