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› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
The parents of a 13-year old boy who was killed in a Rhino accident scored a small victory this month when the Ninth Court of Appeals of Texas ruled their lawsuit against Yamaha could proceed to trial. Yamaha wanted the case to go to arbitration, but the court rejected its petition.
A 29-year-old Michigan woman is in critical condition after losing control of the Yamaha Rhino she was driving. Authorities in Wright Township, Michigan, said that Melissa VanBeveren’s Rhino rolled down a ravine and struck a large tree. The passenger, 47-year-old Al Dietrich, was able to jump out of the vehicle before it hit the tree and suffered only minor bruises and scrapes.
Earlier this month we reported the story of Wyatt Spencer, a 13-year-old New York boy who was killed when the Yamaha Rhino 450 he was driving rolled over on top of him. Now the boy’s parents, Jim and Bonnie Spencer, are meeting with attorneys to explore the possibility of pursuing a lawsuit against the manufacturer.
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.
The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, California reported the death of a 31-year-old man who was killed when the Yamaha Rhino he was driving rolled over. Juan Carlos Camarillo, a resident of Garden Grove, Calif., was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Five others were also injured, including one who was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports that Yamaha Australia is not extending the same Rhino UTV “voluntary repair program” to Australians that it did to Americans. On March 31, Yamaha America and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission jointly announced that all Rhino customers should return their vehicles to their dealerships for a series of safety upgrades. Additionally, Yamaha instructed its dealerships to cease selling any new Rhino inventory until those upgrades were made.
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.
A West Virginia couple has filed a lawsuit in their state court against the Yamaha dealership who sold them a Rhino 450 in May of 2007. According to the complaint, the couple bought a Rhino model not equipped with passenger doors and handholds. Just a few weeks later, in August, Yamaha Motor Co. offered to install aftermarket doors and handholds on any unequipped Rhinos free of charge in what was effectively the first Yamaha Rhino safety “recall.” When the couple contacted their dealer in September to have the upgrades installed, the dealer told them that an appointment wasn’t possible.
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.
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.
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