Jury awards Dallas family $242 million after finding Toyota liable for children's injuries in crash

Source: Dallas Morning News

A Dallas County jury on Friday awarded more than $242 million to a family after finding that manufacturer defects in their Lexus ES 300 caused their children to suffer serious and permanent injuries during a rear-end collision in 2016.

The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for more than eight hours before finding that the front seats of Benjamin and Kristi Reavis' 2002 Lexus ES 300 were, as the plaintiffs argued, "unreasonably dangerous."

Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales also didn't warn the family about that danger, which amounted to gross negligence, jurors agreed. Their verdict included more than $143.6 million in punitive damages.

The family's legal team presented evidence they said showed engineering, design and structural issues with the front seat backs of the vehicle. The lawyers argued Toyota consciously chose to protect front-seat occupants in accidents at the expense of rear-seat passengers.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/toyota/2018/08/17/jury-awards-dallas-family-242-million-after-finding-toyota-liable-crash