The 1987 Chevrolet Blazer

In 1991, Alex Hardy, 37, was driving his 1987 Chevrolet Blazer through White Hall, Alabama when the Blazer's rear axle broke, freeing the right wheel assembly and sending the vehicle into a roll. When the door flew open, Hardy was thrown 30 to 40 feet through the air and suffered severe injuries that left him permanently paralyzed.

Attorneys representing Hardy filed suit against General Motors. They alleged that the Blazer's faulty door latches contributed to Hardy's injuries, and that GM knowingly sold Blazers with defective door latches that opened in accidents like the one owned by Hardy.

GM denied the allegations, arguing Hardy was to blame because he had been drinking and fell asleep when his Blazer rolled over. Witnesses for GM testified that Hardy flew through a window because he was not wearing a seat belt. GM insisted that their "Type 3" door latch was safe and met all federal safety standards. They further claimed that the rate of side-door ejections from its vehicles involved in fatal accidents was .77 per 100 occupants. Finally, GM experts testified that Hardy's door latch was only slightly damaged, indicating that it had not come open during the accident as he contended.

"Once again, a giant automaker tried to avoid the facts by clouding the issue," noted nationally recognized auto defects attorney, John Bisnar. "Internal GM documents-including a 1982 study estimating such latches could fail some 18,000 times a year-underscored the faulty nature of GM's Type 3 door latch. This latch was installed on some 40 million GM vehicles beginning in 1978. An updated version featuring a support plate was only installed on some 1987 models. Unfortunately, GM opted not to spend the estimated $916 million needed to replace all of the latches. It chose instead to issue a 'quiet recall' where dealers were instructed to replace the latch without telling their customers. Regrettably, there are still some 30 million vehicles on the road that are equipped with these latches."

An Alabama jury awarded $50 million in compensatory damages for Mr. Hardy and his family and $100 million in punitive damages against the automaker for what the jury determined was GM's "guilty knowledge" of the defective latches. This was one of the largest ever verdicts against GM.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation into what GM knew about the apparent defects in the door latches. A former administrator of the Federal agency said it often took aggressive civil litigation like the Hardy case to unearth evidence and documents that were otherwise hidden from Federal regulators.

"This verdict revealed the reprehensible fact that GM had known for at least 14 years that Americans would be injured and killed as a result of its poorly designed door latch, a part that had failed in accident after accident," observed Brian Chase of the nationally recognized auto defects law firm of Bisnar Chase. "Mr. Hardy's action in taking GM to court is an example of our justice system at work. The jury award is America's message to GM-in this case, quite a substantial message-that their failure to act was not acceptable. Hopefully, this lawsuit will help convince the automaker to respond effectively to known safety defects to prevent further injuries to its customers."

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