<VV> Handling & tire pressure.

[BBRT]

Let's hear it for California, leading the way for frivolous lawsuits..

C

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "wrsssatty--- >
> That was the Rose Pierini case in California.  That's the one that Mr. 
> Nader spoke of in his book.  Her left arm was severed in the rollover. 
> The tire rotation was done at the Chevy dealership by a student mechanic. 
> You got the facts correct except when the car darted over to the other 
> side it didn't dig in and flip, it went up on an embankment and this 
> caused it to flip.  GM's experts said that at the speed in question the 
> tire pressure would not have made a difference.  Perhaps apropos of 
> nothing it has been noted that Mrs. Pierini had recently been released 
> from a mental institution.  In those days products liability lawsuits were 
> virtually unheard of.  A then recent change in the law (by a court case 
> decided by California's state supreme court) created the doctrine of 
> "strict liability in tort" and made product liability lawsuits easier to 
> prove for plaintiffs.  GM had a minuscule in house legal staff at the time 
> and relied upon their liability insurance carrier, Royal
> Globe Insurance, to defend.  Royal Globe decided to settle mid-trial to 
> the limits of their liability under the policy.  Furthermore, "gag orders" 
> were not yet common and the plaintiff's lawyers (law firm of David Harney) 
> touted the settlement on that evening's local news to drum up more cases. 
> After that fiasco GM ramped up their legal department, dismissed Royal 
> Globe from defending lawsuits against GM, choosing to mount their own 
> defense and instituted a gag order anytime they did settle.
>
> ~Bill Stanley