Huie Obtains Summary Judgment for Case Against Honda

The Challenge

Huie partners Alan Thomas, Jennifer Egbe, and John Isaac Southerland and associate Maggie Donlon recently obtained summary judgment for their client American Honda Motor Co. in a case alleging defective warnings with respect to the air bag and seat belt restraint systems in a 2006 Honda Pilot. In addition to the failure to warn claim, the Plaintiff also originally alleged that the air bag and the occupant classification systems were defectively designed.

Our Approach

The defense team conducted multiple tests during the pendency of the case to demonstrate that the occupant classification system and air bags performed as designed, as well as testing to show that even if the air bag deployed, the occupant would have received his injuries anyway due to pre-existing medical conditions in his neck and spine. Once presented with the defense testing, Plaintiff dropped the defective design claims and attempted to proceed solely on a failure to warn claim that Honda failed to warn that an occupant can be seriously injured or killed in a crash even if the seat belt restraint system was properly worn and the seat was adjusted as far back as possible.

Results

The case was pending in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  The defense team successfully argued that even if the Plaintiff’s proposed warning would have been given, it would not have made a difference because the Plaintiff did not read the owner’s manual or warnings that were already provided by Honda at the time of the crash. Moreover, the team was successful in arguing that the warnings Honda did give were also violated by the Plaintiff because the Plaintiff adjusted the seat so far back that it was forced against a rear-facing child seat in the vehicle, which suppressed the occupant classification system and prevented the air bag from deploying in the crash.

The Court granted summary judgment and dismissed all claims against Honda. They were assisted in the case by Mike Boorman and Phillip Henderson from the Watson, Spence LLP firm in Atlanta.