Rertrial Ordered In GM Defective Products Lawsuit

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Citing several trial errors, 11 Kansas City appellate judges overturned (with a 10-1 ruling) an $80 million award in a defective cruise control lawsuit against General Motors. In September 2000, Constance Peters was left in a vegetative state after an accident in which her car sped up while backing out of her driveway.

Peters remained in that vegetative state until her death 3 1/2 years later. Her attorneys argued that GM knew the cruise control in Peters' 1993 Cutlass Supreme was defective and therefore redesigned the cruise control in 1994.
She was injured when her car

sped up in reverse, traveled about 120 feet, sideswiped a tree and kept going in reverse more than 90 feet back into the couple’s yard.

The impact with the tree broke Peters’ skull in several places and injured an arm so severely it had to be amputated.

Three years ago, a Jackson County jury awarded $50 million in punitive damages plus $20 million in actual damages to Constance Peters and $10 million to her husband, Randall Peters, for loss of consortium.

The Peters' attorney plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Full Story from the KC Star: Defective Cruise Control