Audi Loses $124 Million Injury Lawsuit In Crash Where Occupants Were Not Wearing Seatbelts

A Texas jury ordered Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit to pay $124.5 million to an 11-year-old boy who was left brain damaged in a 2012 rear-end collision.

The parents of Jesse Rivera Jr. claimed the seat back of the 2005 Audi A4 was too weak to withstand a rear-end crash. The front seat collapsed, and the driver, the boy’s father, slid backwards hitting his head on his son’s in the back seat, said the family’s attorney, Jeff Wigington.

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TheSteve - 3/7/2016 12:48:57 PM

-3 Boost

Amazing, isn't it? In this great country of ours, it's never your fault... and we have the lawyers and court systems to prove it.

One of my favorite examples of The Courts At Work is that of the drunk guy who used his lawn mower as a hedge trimmer -- As he was holding it overhead (tall hedges), it fell back on him and injured him, so he sued the manufacturer. The courts determined it was the manufacturer's fault because the product didn't have a notice that said it should not be used as a hedge trimmer. Oy vey!

trboaccord - 3/7/2016 1:03:45 PM

-3 Boost

obviously the jury was brain dead as well... cases like this shouldn't even be heard..

cidflekken - 3/7/2016 2:24:09 PM

+10 Boost

Well in this case, had the front seat back held up the way it should, the injuries wouldn't have happened. So I think that's the basis of the verdict. At least that's the way I read the situation. Would you expect a front seat to collapse to the point where the driver and rear passenger crash heads? That would be a significant collapse of the seat position for that to happen. At least I would imagine so.

trboaccord - 3/7/2016 7:15:29 PM

-4 Boost

are you slow? Neither were wearing seat belts and there isn't enough information to tell what actually even happened with the seat however not wearing a seat belt and getting rear ended means the back seat retard slammed forward... this is a simple physics lesson... the old saying is always true you cant fix stupid.

cidflekken - 3/9/2016 1:09:57 PM

+2 Boost

LOL. Wow, you just made yourself look pretty ignorant right there. Great job.

PUGPROUD - 3/7/2016 2:53:01 PM

-5 Boost

Unintended consequence of dieselgate.

MDarringer - 3/7/2016 8:19:08 PM

-6 Boost

If the occupants weren't wearing seatbelts, I say fcuk them to hell. I hate Audis, but they are tanks. Going belt-less was idiocy.

Tritonx - 3/8/2016 2:54:02 AM

+4 Boost

why is everyone presuming that they were not wearing seat belts? The audi lawyers stated that they weren't, but the rivera lawyers stated that they were. If a car is rear-ended with force and the front seat buckles backwards, people sitting in the rear are in for a world of hurt. That said, I'd like to know if there's a minimum rear force that car front seats are regulated to withstand, since the standard can't be "infinite" for liability purposes.