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Trial ordered in fatal car crash case Friday, Jun 15, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a trial in a lawsuit filed against an automobile glass manufacturer by the mother of a 15-year-old Franklin County girl who died in a car wreck. The 5-2 ruling reversed a circuit court order which dismissed the lawsuit filed by Lisa Wagner against Toledo, Ohio-based Pilkington North America. Wagner's teenage daughter, Stephanie, died in 2001 when the Chevrolet Blazer she was driving west of Ozark left Highway 64, struck an embankment and overturned. When the vehicle rolled over, the driver's side window shattered and the girl was ejected from the vehicle. The teenager, according to state police testimony during a hearing, was not wearing a seatbelt. She also was driving without a license and without adult supervision when the accident occurred. Lisa Wagner sued Pilkington, General Motors Corp., which manufactured the vehicle, and Rhodes Chevrolet, where the vehicle was purchased. Circuit Judge John Patterson dismissed the lawsuit. Wagner's appeal only involved the dismissal of Pilkington from the lawsuit. She argued Pilkington "negligently designed, manufactured and distributed the glass used in the side windows" of the vehicle the teenager was driving. Writing for the majority, Justice Jim Gunter said Wagner presented enough evidence in support of her allegations to warrant a trial. "In the present case, there appear to be issues of genuine material fact with regard to Wagner's negligence claim," Gunter wrote. "First, there is a fact-question involving the shattering of glass and whether it resulted from a defect in the glass." Gunter said another issue to be determined was whether the teenager was wearing a seatbelt and whether that contributed to her being thrown from the vehicle. The opinion said the circuit judge also erred because when Pilkington filed a motion for summary judgment, Wagner sufficiently responded "proof with proof." Siding with Gunter in the majority were Chief Justice Jim Hanna and Justices Donald L. Corbin, Tom Glaze and Paul Danielson. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber wrote that Wagner failed to show what duty, if any, Pilkington owed her. "While the majority refers to the fundamental principle that the plaintiff in a negligence action must show that a duty was owed, it nonetheless fails to address whether that requirement has been met by the plaintiff in this case," she wrote. Joining Imber in the dissent was Justice Robert Brown. |
