Category: Blog

Dangerous Guardrails Spur Investigation of Possible Federal Government Misconduct


Dangerous Guardrails Spur Investigation of Possible Federal Government Misconduct

September, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times reports:

“The Federal Highway Administration said it would monitor the results of Virginia’s tests. The office of Virginia’s attorney general declined to comment beyond Mr. McGrath’s letter. Scrutiny of the guardrail manufacturer is continuing. The Justice Department, with the cooperation of the Transportation Department inspector general’s office, is conducting a criminal investigation into Trinity and its dealings with the Federal Highway Administration.

In June, a Texas judge handed down a $663 million judgment against Trinity, following a trial held in October last year in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Joshua Harman, a competitor who discovered in 2011 that Trinity had made a critical change to the dimensions of its ET-Plus guardrail in 2005, but failed to tell federal regulators as required by law….

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a persistent critic of Trinity and the highway agency’s handling of the testing, praised Virginia’s actions.

“I think this is a watershed moment,” Mr. Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said. “Clearly the states have concluded they cannot trust the Federal Highway Administration to get it right, and this signals to other states that they’ll have to fill in the gap themselves to determine if these guardrails are safe.”

 

Important Article by Ralph Nader “General Motors: Homicidal Fugitive From Justice”


Important Article by Ralph Nader “General Motors: Homicidal Fugitive From Justice”

September, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Ralph Nader has written an article of life or death importance for the “safety and happiness” of all Americans.  Please read it and act to create a safer America.“Yes, it’s official. General Motors engaged in criminal wrongdoing for long knowing about the lethal defect in its ignition switch that took at least 174 lives and counting, plus serious injuries. At least 1.6 million GM cars – Chevrolet Cobalt and other models – hid this danger to trusting drivers, according to the Center for Auto Safety (http://www.autosafety.org/). Corporation executives who lie to or mislead the federal government violate Title 18 of the federal code, and risk criminal penalties.”  See

https://nader.org/2015/09/18/general-motors-homicidal-fugitive-from-justice/

“Safety and Happiness” was written into our Declaration of Independence.   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Our future Safety and Happiness is clearly not secure.  Americans must act now when we have neither safety nor justice.
Lou

 

“Batman” Killed in Crash – An Example of Societal Loss


“Batman” Killed in Crash – An Example of Societal Loss

August, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

When people die of crash injuries it results in losses to families and society – forevermore.   Tragically, in many more ways than we know, most stories of crash victims that die or are seriously injured are given brief passing notice by media and society.  Insights into the societal losses are too often missing in the media.

All are important stories.  But some stories illustrate the impact on society more than others.  This is one such story.

“Leonard Robinson, 51, of Owings Mills, retired after selling a commercial cleaning company he founded. He then spent his time dressing as Batman, visiting and lifting the spirits of sick children in hospitals for more than a decade

Robinson was hit by a car Sunday night in western Maryland after his custom vehicle—a Batmobile replica—had engine trouble and stopped partly in the fast lane on Interstate 70, Maryland State Police reported.”

 

Chrysler Class Action Settlement & NHTSA Criticized by CAS


Chrysler Class Action Settlement & NHTSA Criticized by CAS

August, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The Center for Auto Safety has issued the following release:

 TIPM Class Action Settlement Approved With Rental Car & Full Repair Reimbursment

       CAS Criticizes NHTSA for Violating Safety Act & Not Knowing Chrysler Misled Agency 

On August 17, 2015, a California District Court approved a landmark settlement in Velasco v. Chrysler Group LLC that obtained full reimbursement for the $1,100 to $1,200 repair cost of a TIPM-7 module and for the cost of rental – far beyond the $100 to $200 replacement cost of a fuel relay in the safety recall.  The Settlement Agreement signed by Chrysler shows the settlement agreement was reached in January 2015 and was contingent on Chrysler doing a safety recall of 2012-13 Grand Cherokees and Durangos.  The class action forced the recall.  NHTSA never opened an investigation into stalling on 2011-13 Chrysler SUVs for stalling caused by a defective TIPM-7 module despite the part going on national backorder in 2013.

The Safety Act requires NHTSA to grant or deny a defect petition in 120 days. NHTSA took 337 days to deny CAS’ Defect Petition, failed to obtain a single document from Velasco including ones that showed Chrysler began an investigation more than a year earlier than it told NHTSA, and used the 337 days to construct a strawman denial of the CAS Petition.

Statement of Clarence Ditlow

 #     #     #

Related Documents:

CAS Letter to NHTSA – 8/18/15

Click here to view the Petition for Defect Investigation – 8/21/14

NHTSA Denial of CAS Petition for Defect Investigation – 7/24/15

Velasco v. Chrysler Proposed Settlement Agreement – 6/10/15

Velasco v. Chrysler Settlement Approval – 8/17/15

CAS TIPM Information Page 

 

GM Feinberg Ignition Switch Compensation Program Denies 91% of Claims


GM Feinberg Ignition Switch Compensation Program Denies 91% of Claims

August, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
As of August 21, 2015, the Feinberg GM Ignition Compensation Claims Resolution Facility reported that it denied 91% of the 4,343 claims received. 
For 473 fatality claims, Feinberg deemed 124 “eligible” and 349 (74%) “ineligible”.
For 279 Category One (Quadriplegia, Paraplegia, Double Amputations, Permanent Brain Damage, or Pervasive Burns) claims, Feinberg deemed 17 “eligible” and 262 (94%) “ineligible”.
For 3,591 Category Two (Physical injuries requiring hospitalization , or outpatient medical treatment, within 48 hours of the accident) claims, Feinberg deemed 258 “eligible” and 3,333 (93%) “ineligible”.
For the Total Claims 4,343 counted by Feinberg, 399 were deemed “eligible” and 3,944 (91%) “ineligible”.  
As I wrote in my December 2014 Report delays, denials, obfuscations, and minimization by corporations and governmental agencies endanger us all – past, present, and future crash victims.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforDecember2014.pdf
As I also wrote in June 2014, the amount of the compensation for victims planned was less than the $9.1 million value called for in the U.S. DOT Policy Guidance for each statistical life.  Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-feinberg-comp.php
If the GM Feinberg plan paid out $9 million to each of the 124 fatalities that Feinberg deemed eligible the total would exceed $1 Billion.
A series of recent reports noted the final statistics of the GM Feinberg program.  See:
In July of this year Bloomberg reported on cases were not included under the GM Feinberg plan.  See 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-01/gm-fund-excludes-scores-hurt-or-killed-in-cars-with-switch-flaw

And today we learn of a judicial ruling overturning a conviction of involuntary manslaughter for a driver involved in a fatal GM ignition switch crash in September 2010 that killed 16 year old Robert Chambers.  See attached press announcement.
There are many stories of tragedies past, present, and future that need to be discovered and told so that fewer tragedies occur in the future.
Lou

 

GM/Feinberg Minimization Plan Saved GM Money At The Expense of Public Safety


GM/Feinberg Minimization Plan Saved GM Money At The Expense of Public Safety

August, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The Detroit News reports:

“Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said the “burden of proof on the individual consumer was always too high,” and that some may not have pursued claims because they didn’t have supporting documents.

“The entire program was designed to get help get Congress and the Justice Department off GM’s back,” Ditlow said. “The one thing is clear that we will never know how many people were killed or injured because it goes back so far.”

The ignition defect caused the engines in some vehicles to stop running, disabling power steering and air bags. Because accident investigators, for a decade, didn’t know of the flaw and may have attributed wrecks to other factors, it’s impossible to say how many accidents, deaths and injuries were truly the result of the bad part.

Texas lawyer Robert Hilliard, one of the lead lawyers suing GM over ignition defects, said Monday he has a mixed review of the compensation program, noting that the amount of some compensation awards was tied to hospitalization — a provision he called “clunky and unfair.”

He said some injuries were back- and neck-related “as you are slammed into the steering wheel and no air bag deploys.”

“Many of my clients were fortunate enough not to suffer severe bleeding or other open-wound type injuries, but ended up having surgery months later because of neck/back injuries. As they were sent home from the emergency room and not admitted — Feinberg does not allow for consideration of the surgeries. This led to a gross unfairness for many and a very small offer,” Hilliard said.”  See

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2015/08/03/gm-ignition-fund-ends-review-approving-death-claims/31051683/

As I warned, past and future GM crash victims will suffer with less safety and less compensation than justice would require.  

“Efforts to minimize monetary costs continue to deny and delay safety and justice to people.”  See 

https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforDecember2014.pdf

Lou