Judge Awards Family $208M Compensation For Injuries Sustained In Lexus Crash

Lexus’ parent company Toyota must pay $208 million in compensation to a family after a Dallas County judge ruled in their favor.

The amount is actually than the $242.1+ million requested in the lawsuit filed by the couple against Toyota, after they were involved in an accident in September 2016 with their Lexus ES 300.

The family’s vehicle was stationary when it was hit by a Honda Pilot. Due to the severity of the impact, the front seats of the Lexus failed and collapsed back into the children’s seats, according to the law firm representing the family, as quoted by AutoNews. This resulted in a 3-year old boy and a 5-year old girl, who were strapped into their child seats, to “suffer serious head trauma and other injuries”.

Their legal representatives presented evidence in court that the front seatbacks of their car had engineering, design and structural flaws. Also, they claimed that Toyota chose to protect front-seat occupants at the expense of those sitting at the back in the event of a crash.

After deliberating for more than 8 hours, a jury of nine reached a unanimous vote in August this year, accepting the plaintiff’s argument that accused Toyota of failing to warn about these dangers.

“This was an outstanding family, who was returning from church when the collision occurred”, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Frank Branson, told the news outlet. “They work hard and contribute to their community. The jury found that Toyota’s gross negligence was devastating to both children and their parents.”

In response, a Toyota spokesperson, contacted by AutoNews, commented in an e-mail: “While we respect the court’s decision, we believed the judgement suffers from serious flaws, and that the law requires the entry of judgment in Toyota’s favor. We look forward to presenting the trial court with additional arguments for a new trial and, if necessary, pursuing further review.”

The automaker’s representative added that the injuries sustained by the two children were specific to this particular, severe accident and not related to a defect in the design of the seats.

Note: 2016 Lexus ES 350 pictured