At eighteen years old, our client was just about to graduate high school in the top ten of his class and had a bright future ahead of him. Tragically, no one will ever know what the future held for this young man. Just a few days before graduation, he was killed in a car accident while on the way to his senior award ceremony at school. He was riding in the back seat of a convertible, with the top up, when the car was hit from the side. Even though it was a relatively low speed impact, this young honor student was killed instantly.
Personal Injury Attorneys Joseph J. Reiter, Donald R. Fountain and W. Hampton Keen represented the family in a crashworthiness case against the vehicle manufacturer. The suit alleged that a defect in the design of the convertible top caused the teenager’s death and was the first case in the country involving such allegations. After several years of litigation, the case settled confidentially.