Defense pulls ahead in Yamaha Rhino accident litigation

The Daily Record Newswire BOSTON, MA -- A string of defense verdicts in three recent jury trials has left plaintiffs' efforts in the Yamaha Rhino accident litigation sputtering. Over a two-week period from July 26 to Aug. 12, three separate juries in California and Alabama returned defense verdicts: * An Alabama jury on Aug. 12 unanimously rejected the plaintiff's claims in Mathis v. Yamaha, a case involving an accident on a Rhino in Alexander City, Ala. * A jury in San Bernardino County, Calif. on Aug. 11 rejected claims that a Yamaha Rhino lacked adequate occupant protection and that its seatbelts were defective in Lewis v. Yamaha. * After a four-month trial, a jury in Orange County, Calif., on July 26 unanimously returned a defense verdict in Holt v. Yamaha, the first of 174 consolidated California cases involving the Rhino. Allegations in the Mathis and Holt cases involved the handling and stability of the off-road vehicle. The Lewis trial focused on claims that there wasn't adequate occupant protection from head and upper extremity injuries, and allegations that the Rhino's seats and seatbelts were defective. ''Between the three cases, we had attacks on the occupant protection against head injuries, lower extremity injuries and upper extremity injuries, and the defense prevailed in all three cases with findings of no defects in those vehicles,'' said Paul Cereghini, a managing partner at Bowman and Brooke in Phoenix, who was lead defense counsel in the Orange County trial. His firm headed the defense in San Bernardino County and collaborated with defense attorneys in the Alabama case. Cereghini has a leadership role in the consolidated California litigation and in federal multi-district litigation consolidated in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. ''These cases collectively send a very strong message that Yamaha is prepared to defend this product and defend it quite successfully,'' Cereghini commented. Charles S. Limadri, lead plaintiffs' trial counsel for Lewis, said he was stunned by the 9-3 defense verdict, which followed a seven-week trial. ''I've never been this shocked at a result,'' said Limadri, a veteran trial lawyer who heads a three-lawyer firm in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. ''It's kind of a heartless verdict.'' Jacob Daniel Lewis, who was driving a new Yamaha Rhino, suffered a severe brain injury and an upper arm injury when his off-road vehicle became airborne as it went over a berm and flipped over. His passenger, Patrick Hernandez, suffered an arm injury. ''[Lewis] has a severe injury and needs treatment he's not getting,'' Limadri said. ''It's totally unfathomable to me that the jury would turn this guy away empty handed.'' Limadri said he intends to file post-trial motions. Lack of helmets cited ''If this was a rollover case, I wouldn't have taken it,'' said Limadri. ''But how about the first time you use a vehicle it rolls over at 30 miles an hour, and the seats and seatbelts break?'' Both sides agreed that the seatbelts broke. But during the seven-week trial, defense experts contended that the accident was caused by driver error and that Lewis and Hernandez were severely injured because they weren't wearing helmets. ''There were broken [Rhino] parts, but they did their job,'' said Cereghini, whose Bowman and Brooke colleagues, Robert Miller of Los Angeles and Timothy J. Mattson of Minneapolis, were the lead defense attorneys. ''Two people sustained head injuries because they weren't wearing helmets.'' Overall, the defense has won four out of the five Yamaha Rhino cases that have gone to trial. Last year, the company won a defense verdict in Texas. In the only plaintiff's victory so far, a Georgia jury returned a $317,000 verdict in June. 'Ball is in their court' Introduced in 2003, the Rhino, which seats two people and can reach 40 miles an hour, has been blamed for crushed and broken arms and legs, head injuries and 46 deaths. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed in state court in Georgia and California, in addition to the federal multi-district litigation in Kentucky. In the California litigation, which has been consolidated in Orange County, three cases are scheduled for trial, starting in early October. In Georgia, the next trial date is in November. No trial dates have been scheduled in the MDL. With Yamaha's defense on a roll, it's up to plaintiffs' lawyers to decide whether to pull back on the litigation, Cereghini said. ''The ball is really in their court,'' he said. ''They got some clear messages from the last three trials. ''They had very full opportunities to present their evidence and claims,'' Cereghini continued. ''The juries went through those claims very carefully, and found the Rhino was safe and defect-free.'' Jason A. Shamblin, a shareholder in Cory, Watson, Crowder, DeGaris in Birmingham, Ala., who served as lead plaintiffs' counsel in the Mathis trial, could not be reached for comment. Scott Nealey of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein in San Francisco, and Anthony Klein of Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, Cooper, Rosenlieb and Kimball in Bakersfield, Calif. - co-lead plaintiffs' counsel in the Holt trial - also could not be reached for comment. Published: Mon, Aug 30, 2010

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