ROMA MAN COULD GET $13.4 Million
Valley
Wednesday May 17, 1995
HARLINGTON, TEXAS
Valley Morning Star
Jury decides for paralysis victim from accident.
McALLEN - Honda
must pay $13.4 million to a Roma man paralyzed in an all-terrain
vehicle accident four years ago, a Hidalgo County jury has decided.
Alfredo Barrera
was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the Feb 17, 1991
accident.
Barrera, 17 at
the time, and a friend were riding an 1984 Honda ATC 200S on an
unpaved road when the vehicle went off the roadway and over an
embankment on a ranch in Mexico. Arturo Guerra broke two
vertebrae and fractured a leg and a foot in the accident.
"I think
they knew they had done something wrong," Barrera said,
referring to the three-wheel vehicle's design.
The Hidalgo
Country jury ruled Friday Honda should award Barrera $8.4 million in
actual damages and $5 million in punitive damages and pre-judgment
interest.
Honda will
appeal the jury's award, said Richard T. McCarroll of Austin, who
represented Honda, along with Eduardo Roberto Rodriguez of
Brownsville.
"We have a
venue point to appeal the case," McCarroll said.
"The accident happened in Mexico."
The company will
argue in appeals that Mexican law should have applied because the
accident occurred in Mexico, McCarroll said. Mexican
product-liability law is more favorable to defendants than Texas
law, he said.
McCarroll said
the $5 million in punitive damages also is in dispute. The
jury found no gross negligence by Honda and, therefore, no reason
for punitive damages, he said.
Garcia and Bennett
presented evidence in the trial alleging the unsafe nature of the
three-wheelers manufactured by Honda. Defense attorneys argued
Barrera caused the accident himself by driving too fast and carrying
a passenger against the manufacturer's warnings.
"We're very
pleased with the jury's result, but there's a lot of work to be
done,: Jose E. Garcia, one of Barrera's lawyers, said at a press
conference Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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