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Texas woman seeks damages for injuries sustained in Rhino rollover
June 19th, 2009 by Kurt Niland
A Texas woman who injured her right leg when the Yamaha Rhino she was a passenger in rolled over is taking the manufacturer to court, claiming that the UTV is “defective and unfit for its intended use.” The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas, accuses Yamaha Motor Corporation, Yamaha Manufacturing, and Yamaha Motor Company of “strict liability, negligence, and breach of implied and express warranties,” according to the Southeast Texas Record.
According to the lawsuit, the rollover occurred on “relatively flat terrain.” The vehicle tipped over on the passenger side where the plaintiff was seated.
Like many other lawsuits pending against Yamaha in the Unites States, the suit filed in Texarkana claims that the Rhino “was placed in the stream of commerce in a defective condition, unreasonably dangerous to the users thereof, and not fit for its intended use and reasonably foreseeable purposes.”
The suit also claims that warnings and operating instructions for the Rhino were negligently inadequate.
The plaintiff seeks damages for health care expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical disability and impairment, disfigurement, lost wages, loss of wage earning capacity, loss of consortium, loss of household services, pre- and post-judgment interest.
46 deaths and hundreds of injuries in the U.S. have been attributed to the Yamaha Rhino’s defective design and performance. The unusually high number of deaths and injuries linked to Yamaha’s signature UTV prompted the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission to recall the vehicles last March. Owners may take their Rhinos to their local dealership to have a series of safety improvements installed. No new vehicles are to be sold until the same upgrades have been completed.
More than 200 product liability lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts by Rhino victims and their families.
