Category: Legal Reader

Legal Reader online publication references.

Fiat Chrysler: Money v. People’s Lives

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The Seattle Times reports on the latest efforts of Fiat Chrysler to thwart justice in the courts.
“ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — After a family was awarded $40 million in the death of a 4-year-old boy in a Jeep fire, Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday asked the Georgia Supreme Court for a new trial or for the award to be reduced.

Remington “Remi” Walden died in 2012 after a Jeep Grand Cherokee he was riding in was hit from behind and burst into flames. The gas tank was mounted behind the rear axle, leaving it vulnerable in a crash.

The boy’s parents sued, arguing that the rear-mounted fuel tank in the 1999-model vehicle amounted to reckless disregard for human life by the manufacturer….

At least 75 people have died in post-crash fires involving several Jeep models with rear-mounted gas tanks. The problem led to the recall of 1.56 million Grand Cherokees and Libertys to install trailer hitches to protect the tanks in low-speed crashes.

Fiat Chrysler in 2015 agreed in a deal with government safety regulators to offer $100 gift cards to entice owners of recalled Jeeps to get the trailer hitch installation.”

 See https://www.seattletimes.com/business/fiat-chrysler-asks-for-new-trial-after-40m-jeep-fire-award/

Also see more on tragic history of this continuing saga of money v. people at

https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/blog-casjeepjudgement/




Lou Lombardo

The American Dream – Sold Out

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:
 
I came to Washington, DC in 1966 with high hopes of doing something about controlling air pollution and joined the U.S. Public Health Service, Division of Air Pollution.
 
Landmarks in automotive air pollution control that I was privileged to work on are at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/1970s-polution-control-efforts/
 

Beginning in the late 1970s I worked on auto safety at NHTSA (with one year at IIHS) with hopes of reducing deaths and serious injuries sustained in crashes.

 
Looking back over the past 50 years one can see both progress and the urgent need to continue making progress in reducing vehicle violence from all causes.
 
*  Lead is now out of gasoline and no longer causing lead poisoning in children.
 
*  Vehicles now have catalysts and emissions of automotive pollutants have been reduced – but not nearly enough to protect public health and stop climate change.
 
Air pollution: 50 Years Later
 
An MIT study of early deaths due to all air pollutants and due to just automotive pollutants found:
“The group tracked ground-level emissions from sources such as industrial smokestacks, vehicle tailpipes, marine and rail operations, and commercial and residential heating throughout the United States, and found that such air pollution causes about 200,000 early deaths each year. Emissions from road transportation are the most significant contributor, causing 53,000 premature deaths, followed closely by power generation, with 52,000.”  See
 
Climate Change & Governmental Changing For The Worse – How Did This Happen?
 
Legal Reader has kindly published (pro bono) an article of mine on how, over the past 50 years, the American people have become victims of corporate supremacists.

Nader, Chomsky and others have tried to inform and warn people over the past 50 years with limited resources, but the corporate media has not.  Now it may be too little, too late, for too many people – but we must try.  (See Requiem for the American Dream video)

 
I have created Trump Death Clocks to help people see about how many American people are dying from air pollution under the Trump Administration.  Not included are deaths from climate change contributions such as hurricanes and wildfires.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/trump-clocks/
Lou Lombardo

VW Executive Executive Arrested – Held in Munich Without Bail

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times’ Jack Ewing reports on German prosecutors action on corporate wrongdoing contributing to the existential threat of Climate Change we all face:

“FRANKFURT — An investigation into Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal expanded significantly on Thursday after German authorities arrested a former high-ranking executive of the carmaker, two people with knowledge of the arrest said.

The executive, identified by German news outlets as Wolfgang Hatz, is a former chief of engine development at Volkswagen. He worked closely with Matthias Müller, now the company’s chief executive, when both were members of the management board of the carmaker’s Porsche unit. Mr. Hatz was being held in Munich without bail.

Mr. Hatz, well known in automotive circles because of his previous role as chief of research and development at Porsche, is the second person to be arrested in Germany in connection with the Volkswagen case and the first German citizen. His prominence signals that the investigation — which has proceeded slowly since the wrongdoing came to light two years ago — may be entering a more intense phase….

“Mr. Hatz was suspended from his position at Porsche soon after Mr. Winterkorn resigned, and he formally left the company in May 2016. Little had been heard about him since then, and he was not among six people indicted by U.S. prosecutors in January.”

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/business/volkswagen-diesel-cheating.html

Imagine how much safer we all would be if American prosecutors arrested corporate (and government) executives and held them without bail during the 50 years of U.S. “legal” climate change.

See http://www.legalreader.com/50-years-of-legal-climate-change/

____________________
Lou Lombardo
www.CareForCrashVictims.com

 

 

50 Years of “Legal” Climate Change

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
 
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have brought to public attention that Climate Change is a growing existential threat.
 
How has this come to be humanity’s current reality?
 
Having begun my work in air pollution control in the Public Health Service in 1966, I have seen 50 years of “legal” history that informs how this came to be our current reality.
 
Legal Reader has just published my article documenting historical landmarks that I have observed.
 

We can and must do better before it is too late for all of us.

 

Lou Lombardo

Walden Jury Verdict Appealed by Fiat Chrysler – Again

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Legal Reader has published an excellent article, with video, on this case.

See it at http://www.legalreader.com/chrysler-appeals-remi-walden-verdict-says-excessive/

This is another example of the reality of preventable tragedies and corporate intransigence to legally delay justice for money and prevent future tragedies.

The role of the Center for Auto Safety in providing documents to the public is athttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/the-walden-case-justice-delayed-is-justice-denied/

Hopefully getting the information out will help us all prevent future tragedies and build a safer and more just world.

Lou

Legal Reader: We the People: Endangered, Captured and Dying

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Legal Reader has published an article on the dangers, current legal realities, and current political obstacles that “We the People” face in achieving the safety and happiness envisioned in our Declaration of Independence.

Legal Reader has created a graphic that shows Lady Justice can hear the cries of the people for health and safety, feel the burden of money, and smell the corruption but too often can’t deliver justice.  This article is about that tragic condition of “capture and corruption”.


We the People are endangered, captured, and dying due to corporate greed. Our government, all three branches, has allowed itself to be purchased by corporations, and its actions are putting Americans in danger every day.

As MD Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said:

“Every day there’s something that goes on that endangers the health and safety of Americans.”

As Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says in his new book “Captured”:

“The problem of corporate control of our politics is correctable. We can stand up, push back, and make it right.”

Read the article at  http://www.legalreader.com/we-the-people-endangered-captured-and-dying/

Lou Lombardo