Blog Archives - Page 81 of 115 - Care For Crash Victims

Will GM Deduct Payments to Crash Victims?

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

A mother who lost her daughter in a GM crash has asked this important question on behalf of all American taxpayers.

“Our kids dying should not be a tax deduction.”

That’s the message from Laura Christian, mother of Amber Marie Rose the teen who was killed in July 2005 in an accident while driving a GM (GM) car outfitted with a defective ignition switch .”

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/09/news/companies/gm-airbag-tax-break/

See letter to GM and “response” attached.

Taxpayers should also know how GM valued the lives lost. Was it the $9.1 million used in the DOT Policy Guidance? See attached DOT Policy.

If GM were required to pay the DOT value and it not be tax deductible, then all Americans would benefit. GM would have a greater incentive to provide safer vehicles to their customers and to the protection of us all from uncontrolled vehicles.

Lou

Jurors Vote for Justice & Safety in Fiery Death of Child in Jeep Crash

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:“A jury in Georgia has awarded $150 million to the family of a 4-year-old boy killed when a Jeep Grand Cherokee exploded into flames three years ago after being rear-ended. The jury said Chrysler, the maker of Jeeps, must pay nearly the full amount.

Jurors in Decatur County ruled Thursday that Chrysler acted with reckless disregard for human life in selling the family of Remington “Remi” Walden a 1999 Jeep with a gas tank mounted behind the rear axle.

Walden, of Bainbridge, Georgia, was killed when the Jeep driven by his aunt was hit from behind by a pickup truck in March 2012. The fuel tank leaked, engulfing the Jeep in flames and killing the boy.

The verdict comes nearly two years after Chrysler compromised with a federal safety agency and agreed to a scaled-down recall of some older-model Jeeps with the rear-mounted tanks. The tanks have little structure to protect them if struck from behind, making them susceptible to punctures and fires.

Federal documents show that at least 75 people have died in post-crash fires because of the rear-mounted fuel tanks.

The 11-woman, one-man jury ruled after a nine day trial that Chrysler was 99 percent at fault for the crash and the pickup driver was 1 percent at fault. Jurors also determined that Chrysler failed to warn the family of the hazards of driving the Jeep. They ruled that the Waldens should get $30 million for Remi’s pain and suffering and $120 million for the full value of his life, according to a verdict form.

Mike Palese, spokesman for Chrysler parent company FCA US, said the company is disappointed with the verdict and would appeal. Chrysler, he said, was prevented from presenting data submitted to federal safety regulators showing that the vehicles did not pose an unreasonable safety risk.

“The vehicles are not defective,” Palese said.”

See excellent AP Report athttp://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/04/02/jury-orders-chrysler-to-pay-150m-in-jeep-fire-death

Tragedies + Advocacy + Lawyers + Jurors = Justice & Safety

Tragedy: See http://www.autosafety.org/walden-v-chrysler-trial

Advocacy: See http://www.autosafety.org/jeep-grand-cherokee-fires-homepage

CAS defect petition work that stimulated the NHTSA investigation. See

http://www.autosafety.org/jeep-grand-cherokee-defect-petition-file

CAS crash tests. See http://www.autosafety.org/jeep-grand-cherokee-crash-tests

Trial: See verdict attached.

Future Tragedies

More tragedies are expected: * defective Jeeps are still on the roads * “fixes” approved by NHTSA are inadequate.

* NHTSA still not “fixed” and is still captive of auto industry.

* $150 million award may be reduced by courts or settlements

* $150 million award may be tax deductible and paid by taxpayers

At least a Justice and Safety message has been sent.

Lou

New Book “Car Safety Wars” by Michael R. Lemov

Monthly Report: New Book “Car Safety Wars” by Michael R. Lemov

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

My monthly Report for April 2015 attached is a review of a new book to advance auto safety “Car Safety Wars” by Michael R. Lemov

“Car Safety Wars” is a timely, timeless, treasure for all crash victims – past, present, and future. We are all crash victims as tax payers, consumers, and endangered citizens needing to protect our safety and happiness.

Get it at http://www.amazon.com/Car-Safety-Wars-Technology-Politics/dp/161147745X

Lou

Ralph Nader on GM Ignition Switch Scandal and Judge Gerber’s Decision

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Nader writes:

“U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber has done a great disservice to justice by blocking victims and their families from having their rightful day in court to challenge GM’s corporate malfeasance.

This disturbing outcome could have been prevented had the Obama administration defended the rights of those injured by GM’s faulty vehicles. The federal government failed to responsibly exercise its majority stock ownership rights by establishing successorship liability for “New GM”.”

See: https://blog.nader.org/2015/04/16/the-decision-in-the-general-motors-bankruptcy-case/

We the American people need to ask the following questions:

1. Why did Judge Robert Gerber rule against us all as we are all crash victims?

2. Why did the Obama administration not defend the rights of crash victims?

3. Why do we the American people let these acts go on and on?

Lou

NHTSA May Reopen Jeep Fire Investigation

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Which Matters More? Lives or money?

An excellent article on Jeep Recall shines light on former DOT & NHTSA officials and their role in the continuing endangerment of Americans – and their subsequent financial rewards.

“The new head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the agency may reopen an investigation into the gas tank fires in older Jeep Cherokees that safety advocates say have taken at least 270 lives.

NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind also said the agency is not happy with the plodding pace of the effort to retrofit millions of Jeeps with non-functioning trailer hitches — the scheme cooked up at a secret meeting between Rosekind’s predecessor and Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of often-renamed Chrysler, now known as FCA US LLC in the United States.

“We’re not satisfied with the current situation so we are looking for every avenue that would be appropriate for us to take action,” Rosekind said in a meeting with reporters at the New York International Auto Show, the Detroit News reported. “Given all of the stuff that’s going on, we want to figure out what else we can be doing.”

Rosekind confirmed he is considering reopening the investigation and said: “Everything is on the table. … I have organized a group who is actually looking at any other actions that are available for us given the situation.”

“A federal jury in Georgia last week found that Chrysler showed “reckless or wanton disregard for human life” in the death of Remington Walden, 4, who died when the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by his aunt was rear-ended in a 2012 accident. The jury awarded the family $150 million and said Chrysler was 99% responsible for the accident.”

New NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind is holding a public meeting on recalls. Seehttps://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/04/10/2015-08257/retooling-recalls-workshop

This follows a long period of failure to protect Americans that has been well documented in the NY Times. Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/19/business/crisis-in-gm-auto-safety.html

Hopefully this meeting signals a change in NHTSA for the better.

But to change the culture of NHTSA requires shifting officials around such that public servants, rather than corporate servants, occupy the responsible positions.

As CEO of NHTSA, Dr. Rosekind needs to change the culture of the agency before he can hope to change the culture in Detroit when he meets the auto CEOs in June.

Time and future lives lost will tell which matters more at NHTSA: lives or money.

Lou

Hope for Safety and Justice in Guardrail Case Involving FHWA and Trinity Industries

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times reports:

“The Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation of the guardrail maker Trinity Industries and is examining the company’s relationship with the Federal Highway Administration, according to people with knowledge of the effort.

At least five potential witnesses, including one former federal highway agency official, have been interviewed in recent weeks by investigators, and at least one grand jury subpoena for documents has been issued, according to the people.

The Justice Department is seeking documents and other records related to a federal whistle-blower case that Trinity lost last October. In that trial, a jury found t he company liable for defrauding the government by failing to disclose design changes to its guardrail, called the ET-Plus.

The changes, made in 2005, are suspected of making the units more likely to jam when hit head-on, causing the metal rail to spear the vehicle. Trinity has said that its failure to disclose the changes was an oversight and that they did not affect the performance of the guardrail. The Justice Department investigation was first reported by Bloomberg News….”

“While the full scope of the criminal investigation remains unclear, federal agents have been gathering information regarding the interactions of Federal Highway Administration officials and Trinity before and after the agency was first made aware, in 2012, of the previously undisclosed changes to the ET-Plus.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/guardrail-maker-is-said-to-be-focus-of-us-case.html

This is what it may take to secure Safety and Justice: Criminal investigations of government officials.

In the Jeep fatal Walden case, NHTSA protected former NHTSA Administrator David Strickland from being deposed by plaintiff attorney Jim Butler.

See the attached denial of a request to depose Mr. Strickland and the attorney’s protest. Such obstruction of safety and justice by DOT must not be allowed to prevail over victims’ rights to information on government actions of life or death importance.

Lou

President Obama and Secretary Foxx Announce Grow America Bill – Crash Deaths To Grow

March, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Obama Administration proposes endless tragic years ahead for Americans.

Please read this DOT Announcement and watch this DOT video at http://www.dot.gov/grow-america

Can you hear or read the word “safety”?

“The FY 2016 budget proposes $478 billion funding for a 6-year surface transportation reauthorization proposal that invests in modernizing our infrastructure.”

Buried in a more detailed list of this proposal there is a document on improving safety updated yesterday at http://www.dot.gov/grow-america/fact-sheets/safety

It notes: “In 2013, vehicle crashes killed 32,719 Americans and injured more than 2.3 million people.”

Let’s compare the deaths and dollars proposed with the DOT Policy Guidance on valuing deaths and injuries in dollars. The DOT Policy for 2013 attached places a value of $9.1 million. “On the basis of the best available evidence, this guidance identifies $9.1 million as the value of a statistical life to be used for Department of Transportation analyses assessing the benefits of preventing fatalities and using abase year of 2012.”

So if DOT Secretary Foxx had taken out a calculator and multiplied the 2013 fatalities of 32,719 crash deaths times the $9.1 million in the DOT Guidelines he would find the math to amount to $297 billion.

So how does that $297 billion in one year compare with the $478 billion, or $80 billion per year, that he is proposing over the next six years?

If the number of deaths continue over the next 6 years at about 32,000 per year (as I expect is likely) another 192,000 Americans will die of crash injuries. And our crash death clock will exceed 3,855,000 American crash deaths. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php

The DOT Grow America proposal and section by section analysis are attached.

In our Declaration of Independence it stated that “it is the Right of the People to alter …as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety”

The Obama Administration’s current proposal is “Unsafe” – far less safe than it needs to be.

Lou