Parents Against the Production of Unsafe ATVs  (PAPA)

Press Release – Parents Against the Production of Unsafe ATVs  (PAPA) and The Bennett Law Firm step-up pressure on ATV industry to make safer ATVs

ON APRIL 9, 1997 Jacob Rohrer, then 17 years old, was riding double on a Yamaha four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle with a high school classmate, Justin Foy. While the boys were riding in an open field near their homes in Mayfield, Kentucky where they frequently rode the vehicle, the steering column snapped causing the back end of the ATV to come off the ground and the vehicle to flip end-over-end, throwing both boys off the vehicle. Plaintiff, Jacob Rohrer, landed on the ground with such force and in such a position as to fracture his back and cause severe injury to his spinal cord. As a result of the incident, Jacob Rohrer has been permanently and irreversibly rendered paraplegic.

The Rohrer family sued YamahaMotor Corp. U.S.A. and Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., charging that the Yamaha Timberwolf ATV Model YFB250FWG four-wheel all-terrain vehicle has a defective steering system, and an unreasonably dangerous high center of gravity and poor lateral stability. The Rohrers also contended that Yamaha had failed to warn consumers that other similar incidents of steering system failures had occurred prior to this incident. Counsel for the Rohrer family discovered twenty prior similar incidents involving similar steering shaft failures prior to the Rohrer incident. Despite having known of the defect, Yamaha failed to take any action to recall the defective products or warn consumers of the danger.

Last September Yamaha agreed to pay the Rohrer family $ 3.2 million to settle the case. However, Yamaha still denies any defects in the ATV or any liability for the lack of a warning. Counsel for the Rohrer family, Robert S. Bennett, of the Houston based national trial law firm, Bennett Law Firm, P.C., with the help of PAPA – (Parents Against the Production of Unsafe ATVs.), a Texas consumer group, has recently turned over to the Consumer Products Safety Commission numerous documents linking the defective steering shaft to over twenty accidents across the United States. Bennett, who has earned a national reputation as a major figure in ATV investigation and litigation, played a key role in investigations into the ATV industry in the 1980s which lead to the CPSC General Counsel's Office pressuring the ATV industry to voluntarily ban three-wheeled vehicles. Bennett hopes that this new data will help the CPSC pressure Yamaha to make their four-wheel vehicles safer for the public, and provide further pressure on the industry to recall all 3-wheeled ATVs still in use.

For additional information contact Bob Bennett, The Bennett Law Firm, PC, Houston, TX at 713-225-6000 or bbennett@bennettlawfirm.com

Parents Against the Production of Unsafe ATVs (PAPA) media contacts,
Lilia Sharp, lilshaap@aol.com, 713-516-6800
Melissa A Black, Melissa.Black@kirtland.af.mil, 505-853-5365