› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Two more lawsuits have been filed against Yamaha Motor Co. for injuries sustained in Rhino rollovers. One lawsuit was filed by a woman on behalf of her son, a minor who was injured in March 2008 when the Rhino he was riding in flipped. The other suit was filed by a man who received serious injuries when the Rhino he was driving rolled over in May 2007. Both plaintiffs are residents of West Virginia.
On April 1, the day that Yamaha Motor Co. announced its “voluntary repair campaign” for its Rhino UTVs, John and Tammy Sand received a phone call from the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission thanking them for their efforts in raising awareness about the dangers of the off-road vehicles.
Yamaha Motor Co. is being sued in Canada over the death of a 13-year-old boy who lost his life when the Rhino he was driving rolled over. Wyatt Bauer, a resident of Rimbey, Alberta, was on vaction with his family in 2007 when the accident occurred. Like many other Rhino victims before him, Bauer was crushed under the weight of the vehicle. His family is seeking $316 million in damages ($400 million CA). The lawsuit can proceed to trial once it has been certified by a judge as a class action.
All Yamaha Rhino 450 and 660 model vehicles were recalled for repairs designed to prevent accidents that resulted in 46 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The reported deaths occurred between the fall of 2003, when the vehicles were first distributed, through this year.
ACCORDING TO A PRESS RELEASE PUBLISHED ON LIEFF CABRASER YAMAHA RHINO WEBSITE:
Earlier this week we featured J.T. Crow, a 9-year-old boy who died when the Yamaha Rhino he was a passenger in rolled onto its side, throwing him from the ATV and pinning him underneath its unpadded roll cage. Since the accident, which occurred in June 2007, J.T.’s mother, Heidi Crow, embarked on a mission to “help save others from a tragic fate like J.T.’s.”
Lauren Dilworth’s family, friends, schoolmates, and teachers gathered near the entrance of Lewisburg Middle-High School in Lewisburg, Mississippi, to remember the 11-year-old girl who tragically lost her life last October when the Yamaha Rhino ATV she was riding in rolled over. Lauren and her family had moved to DeSoto County from Alabama last June. Lauren attended the school for just a few weeks before the accident occurred in October.
The Yamaha Rhino’s unsafe design makes it unreasonably dangerous. So alleges the lawsuit filed by a Texas woman whose daughter was injured when the Rhino she was in rolled over, pinning her legs underneath. Her lawsuit is among more than 50 lawsuits nationwide filed against Yamaha Motor Company.
A California man has filed a complaint against Yamaha Motor Corporation for severe injuries he sustained when his Rhino ATV rolled over. 44-year-old Troy Bithell, a father of four, was riding in the Rhino with his daughter during a family camping trip. The two were driving in a dry lake bed in Johnson Valley when the accident occurred.
This holiday season has been a tragic one for many ATV owners and their families. Recent reports nationwide tell of people of all ages becoming seriously injured and in some cases dying in ATV rollovers and other accidents.
A 38-year-Florida old woman who suffered severe injuries when the Yamaha Rhino Utility Terrain Vehicle she was riding in rolled over is now suing Yamaha Motor Corporation.
