Overview
In November 2018, Cohen Milstein resolved an automobile crashworthiness lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation on behalf of a client who sustained quadriplegia because her vehicle’s side and frontal airbags deployed during a minor impact. The case was settled for a confidential amount.
Background
On May 24, 2017, Cohen Milstein attorneys Theodore J. Leopold, Leslie M. Kroeger, and Poorad Razavi, along with New York co-counsel, Joseph E. O’Connor of Mainetti, Mainetti, & O’Connor, P.C., filed a product liability and personal injury complaint against Toyota Motor Corporation, Autoliv, one of the world’s largest automotive safety manufacturers and suppliers of airbag systems, and related entities on behalf of Saori Yamauchi, who sustained catastrophic injuries during an accident in her Toyota Sienna as a result of the vehicle’s airbag system deploying in a dangerous manner.
On September 1, 2016, plaintiff, Saori Yamauchi, a citizen of Japan, who is also a resident of Dutchess County, New York under a valid E2 Visa, was properly seat belted and driving her 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan in Fishkill, New York. As she approached an intersection with a green light, another vehicle failed to stop at the red-light signal and struck Mrs. Yamauchi’s vehicle as she was making a legal left turn. Rather than protecting her from injury, the defective deployment of the front and side curtain airbags caused Mrs. Yamauchi’s devastating injuries, leaving her permanently disabled as a quadriplegic.
Case Name: Saori Yamauchi, et al. v. Toyota Motor Corporation, et al., Case No. 2017-51249, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Duchess