Volvo Held Liable for $8.75 Million in Lawsuit Brought by Yonkers Accident Victim Who Lost His Leg

Missing $5.00 Starter Safety Switch Would Have Prevented Tragic Accident; Some Volvo Car Owners Still at Risk

NEW YORK, The following was released today by Kreindler & Kreindler LLP:

A New York jury has directed the Volvo Car Corporation to pay $8.75 million to a Yonkers man whose leg was crushed when he was hit by a 1987 Volvo 740 wagon that was missing a clutch starter safety switch, the victim's law firm, Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, announced today. The May 2002 accident happened when the car lurched forward and pinned the victim, Manuel Reis, between a house and the vehicle.

Volvo began installing the starter safety switch, a $5.00 part, in its vehicles in 2000. The switch requires that the clutch be fully depressed before a manual transmission vehicle can be started. The part is designed to prevent a driver from inadvertently starting the vehicle in gear, which could result in the car jumping forward and putting bystanders at risk.

On the afternoon of May 24, 2002, Mr. Reis, then 56, was picking up his seven-year-old daughter at a friend's house. The friend's father had just bought a used Volvo and was showing it to Mr. Reis. The two men were looking under the car's hood when the car owner offered to start the car. He reached in the driver's window, started the vehicle and it lurched forward, crushing Mr. Reis's leg between the Volvo wagon and the friend's house. As a result, Mr. Reis subsequently suffered a traumatic above-knee amputation of his left leg.

Last week in Manhattan, a New York County Supreme Court jury found Volvo to be at fault, awarding Mr. Reis the multi-million dollar award for past and future pain and suffering, medical expenses and loss of earnings.

Some Volvo Car Owners Still at Risk

"When this accident happened in 2002, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda all had starter safety switches in their vehicles sold in the United States," said Noah H. Kushlefsky, Mr. Reis's legal counsel and a law partner at Kreindler. "In our case for Mr. Reis, Volvo admitted that the safety switch was available to them, but the company chose not to install it on the cars it sold here."

According to Mr. Kushlefsky, owners of some models of Volvo vehicles manufactured prior to 2000 may still be at risk of hurting themselves or others due to the missing safety device. "This accident is surely one of those tragedies that was preventable, and its results are devastating to Mr. Reis and his family," said Mr. Kushlefsky. "Every car company should assess its full inventory of manual transmission vehicles to determine whether or not they are equipped with this simple and inexpensive safety device and take immediate action to rectify the problem if they are not. No one should have to suffer what Mr. Reis has needlessly endured."

Kreindler partner Dr. Susan Friery was Mr. Kushlefsky's co-counsel on the case.

Kreindler & Kreindler LLP (www.kreindler.com), headquartered in New York with additional offices in Los Angeles, Boston and New Jersey, is the leading law firm representing plaintiffs in the United States and around the world in aircraft accident cases and other complex litigation matters involving aviation, maritime vessels, products liability, auto, train and other transportation accidents. In 2005, the firm secured more than $20 million for its client in Ruby v. Budget Rent a Car, then the highest-ever New York State verdict in a personal injury case.

SOURCE Kreindler & Kreindler LLP