JERE BEASLEY REPORT February 2018 I
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
e JERE BEASLEY REPORT February 2018 I. Street, Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal estimated 300 people per year—who Building and United States Courthouse, died in an underride crash. CAPITOL Freedom Rides Museum, Holt Street In this type of crash, a car slides under OBSERVATIONS Baptist Church, Rosa Parks Museum the body of a large truck, rendering the car’s safety features mostly useless. • Scottsboro: The Scottsboro Boys Often, these accidents are fatal even at Museum and Cultural Center low speeds and include injuries like ALABAMA LANDMARKS NOW PART OF CIVIL decapitation. But a way to minimize the RIGHTS TRAIL • Selma: Brown Chapel AME Church, Edmund Pettus Bridge, Lowndes Inter- extent of these tragic injuries is within reach. As Ms. Durso says on her website Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day may be pretive Center, National Voting Rights Stop Underrides: over, but Alabama’s place in the new U.S. Museum and Institute, Selma Interpre- Civil Rights Trail is here to stay. The trail tive Center, Selma to Montgomery The technology is available to equip links “almost 130 museums, churches, National Historic Trail, The Sullivan every truck in this country with courthouses and other landmarks that and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Foun- underride protection. It’s not the were essential to the advancement of dation and Museum crash that kills—it’s the underride. social equality during the volatile 1950s • Tuscaloosa: Foster Auditorium at the Without underride protection on and 1960s.” Alabama’s share includes 10 University of Alabama trucks, every passenger vehicle is sites in Montgomery, seven in Selma, four in Birmingham and four in Tuskegee. • Tuskegee: Butler Chapel AME Zion The creation of the trail is the first time Church, Tuskegee Airmen National His- IN THIS ISSUE tourism departments from multiple toric Site, Tuskegee History Center, I. Capitol Observations ...............2 Southern states have worked together to Tuskegee University jointly promote civil rights sites. My II. Automobile News Of Note ...........2 friend Lee Sentell, Director of the Gov. Kay Ivey made Alabama’s trail Alabama Department of Tourism, stated: announcement on Jan. 15 at Dexter III. Purely Political News & Views ........7 Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. The subject of human rights has Other speakers at the church included IV. Legislative Happenings. 7 never been more relevant. The Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, Mont- landmarks in Birmingham, Selma gomery County Commission Chairman V. Court Watch ......................8 and Montgomery already attract Elton Dean and Joseph Carver, the vice visitors from Britain, Europe and president of the Montgomery Improve- VI. The National Scene ................8 Australia as well as from the U.S. ment Association. You can go to www. VII. The Corporate World ...............9 Now that the South has a website civilrightstrail.com to obtain information that raises the visibility of minor about the trail. VIII. Whistleblower Litigation ...........10 sites, we can expect more tourists Source: Montgomery Advertiser in Monroeville, Tuskegee and IX. Product Liability Update ...........12 Scottsboro. X. Mass Torts Update ................16 The two-year effort to create the trail II. began when National Park Service Direc- XI. Premises Liability Update ...........17 tor Jonathon Jarvis called for an inventory AUTOMOBILE of surviving civil rights landmarks. NEWS OF NOTE XII. Workplace Hazards ...............19 Georgia State University found 60 sites, and Lee Sentell “helped spearhead an XIII. Transportation ...................21 effort by TravelSouth USA to have the 12 XIV. Healthcare Issues ................22 Southern states in represents supplement UNDERRIDE GuaRD LEGISLATION FOR LARGE TRUCKS WOULD SAVE LIVES the list with other worthy sites. The XV. Environmental Concerns ...........23 Alabama trail sites are: On Thanksgiving Day of 2004, Lois XVI. Update On Nursing Home Litigation ..26 • Anniston: Freedom Riders Durso got the call no mother ever wants National Monument to receive. A slippery road caused the car XVII. An Update On Class Action Litigation ..27 her daughter’s fiancé was driving to slide th • Birmingham: 16 Street Baptist under the side of a large truck traveling XVIII. The Consumer Corner .............30 Church, Bethel Baptist Church, Bir- next to them, dragging their car down mingham Civil Rights Institute, Kelly the road in its rear wheels, crushing XIX. Recalls Update ...................32 Ingram Park 26-year-old Roya Sadigh to death. A new bill intended to reduce the XX. Firm Activities ...................34 • Monroeville: Old Courthouse Museum number of accidents like the one that XXI. Special Recognitions ..............36 • Montgomery: Alabama State Capitol, took Roya’s life was introduced by U.S. City of St. Jude, Civil Rights Memorial Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and XXII. Favorite Bible Verses ..............38 Center, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Dec. 12. The Stop Baptist Church Dexter Parsonage Underrides Act was introduced in Roya’s XXIII. Closing Observations ..............38 Museum, First Baptist Church on Riley memory along with the many others—an XXIV. Parting Words ...................39 2 BeasleyAllen.com vulnerable to underride crashes. in a California federal court. It’s alleged puter software that controls the 9-speed There is a solution that will save that the automaker’s 2017 and 2018 transmission. In addition, FCA executives countless lives. Chrysler Pacifica vehicles equipped with have confirmed that the company has a 3.6-liter V6 engine contain a design been working to refine the transmission, In fact, rear underride guards have defect that causes the vehicles to stall at according to the complaint. been mandated on large trucks since high speeds without warning. Claims are made in the suit under Cali- 1996, but despite a 2014 recommendation The complaint filed on Dec. 30 by lead fornia’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act from the National Transportation Safety Plaintiffs Ryan and Sarah Wildin alleges and its Unfair Competition Law. The com- Board (NTSB) suggesting front and side they would not have purchased their new plaint also asserts breach of implied war- underride guards would save lives, they 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, or they would ranty claims under the Song-Beverly still have not been mandated. To demon- have paid less for it, had they known Consumer Warranty Act and the Magnu- strate the value of underride guards, the about the defect. Allegedly the defect son-Moss Warranty Act, as well as an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety causes moving vehicles to shut down at unjust enrichment claim. The Wildins (IIHS) demonstrated the difference speeds as fast as 70 mph on the highway. seek to represent a nationwide class of between a guard and a skirt intended for The suit says: drivers who purchased or leased a 2017 aerodynamics. The first resulted in an or 2018 Chrysler Pacifica vehicle airbag deployment as in any front-end The stalling defect prevents the equipped with a 3.6-liter V6 engine and a collision, and the second resulted in a driver from operating the vehicle as 9-speed automatic transmission. They truck trailer resting on top of the front intended, which results in a range seek restitution, attorneys’ fees and costs, passenger seats. The proposed bill would of unsafe conditions, including the compensatory, exemplary and statutory improve the guidelines for preexisting inability to change speed or steer, damages plus interest, and declaratory rear underride guards and introduce often while in traffic and at high relief, and more. requirements for side and front under- rates of speed. Ryan and Sarah Wildin are represented ride guards. The putative class action comes after by Jordan L. Lurie, Tarek H. Zohdy, Cody According to the bill, one year after the R. Padgett and Karen L. Wallace of Cap- date of its enactment, a final rule requir- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in stone Law APC. The case is Wildin et al. ing new trucks to be equipped with side v. FCA US LLC, (case number 3:17-cv- underride guards must be issued, and December it would follow up on a non- profit’s petition requesting that the 02594), in the U.S. District Court for the within two years after its passage, a final Southern District of California. rule requiring all existing trucks to be agency look into 57 customer complaints Source: Law360.com retrofitted must be issued. For front claiming their 2017 Chrysler Pacificas underride guards, the bill outlines a two- lost engine power without warning at year timetable for a final rule for new various speeds. One driver claimed the trucks and a three-year timetable for a vehicle lost power while traveling at 40 TENNESSEE MAY BECOME INTO DUMPING GROUND final rule to require retrofitting mph on local roads, and another said the FOR DANGEROUS CARS older models. car stalled at 60 mph while driving in Data on victims of underride crashes a tunnel. It’s being reported that a new law in also would be required to be displayed NHTSA has not yet made a determina- Tennessee could put countless dangerous on a public website. Placing public safety tion on whether there is a defect. In their cars on the state’s roads by allowing over profit margin should not have to be suit, the Wildins allege that since they dealers to easily sell cars that are under something an industry is forced to do, but purchased their Chrysler Pacifica in Sep- safety recall. Consumer advocates are sadly, that appears to be the case. A guard tember 2016, they have experienced alerting the media and the public to the could have easily saved Roya Sadigh’s life symptoms of the alleged defect multiple problems. Andy Spears, who is with Ten- and countless others. Those in positions times and once while driving on the nessee Citizen Action, stated: of authority must recognize the risk of highway. As a result, they claim they’ve returned their vehicle for repairs twice, It basically makes Tennessee a underride crashes and eliminate this dumping ground for unsafe cars major safety hazard.