Personal InjuryUse of Defective Buckles to Save Money Justifies Punitive Damages
In a recent BISNAR & CHASE false latching lawsuit against a Large U.S. Automaker, BISNAR & CHASE was able to secure internal documents which proved that the Company had intentionally retrofitted the RCF-67 false-latching-prone buckle back into one of its leading Sport Utility Vehicles in 1990 in place of the false-latching-proof end-release buckle the SUV was designed to have had installed from the outset of production. In these highly confidential documents, the automaker admitted it took this action because its cost accountants determined that they could save $ 1.90 per vehicle.
Other documents obtained in the same case established that the same automaker did the same in a number of its other vehicle lines for the same reasons.
As a result of BISNAR & CHASE's obtaining this information, the case settled for a substantial sum which was agreed by the parties to be kept confidential. However, BISNAR & CHASE has also taken action in conjunction with consumer safety groups to share its discoveries in order to petition NHTSA to revisit its 1992 rulemaking and enact appropriate regulatory measures, including product recalls, to curtain the usage of the false latching and inertial-latching-prone RCF-67/Type I buckles.
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