On March 13, 2020, the customer took his car to the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership and a young 19-year-old mechanic attempted to change the oil. But something terrible happened.
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You've got to read the story at the link.
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Ain't America great!
ReplyDeleteTrees, ropes, lawyers, politicians... Some assembly required.
ReplyDeletewe can only hope
DeleteI guess the pretext for suing the driver is that he left the car in gear when he parked it at the dealership. Amazing that a mechanic can't drive a stick.
ReplyDeleteI always leave a stick shift in 1st gear when I park. Parking brakes slip a hell of a lot more often than a gearbox will.
DeleteI have a car with a 6 speed manual. A couple of years ago I took the car to a local tire shop to have a coolant flush and refill. Later, when I got back into my car I found that it was left in neutral without the parking brake applied. Fortunately, they had parked the car on the only level spot in their parking lot. Any other place and it would have rolled out into the street into traffic. I went inside and gave the manager an earful. Needless to say, I haven't been back to that shop.
DeleteWC-
DeleteSpeaking as someone who had a 5 speed F-250 get away from me I agree completely.
Older Fords were famous for their crappy parking brakes, which I learned after the fact. Since then, I don't trust ANY parking brake.
I always leave the car in 1st gear. It's a stupid pretext anyway, since you have to put the clutch in before the starter will engage on any car or light truck built in the last few decades. Hopefully the judge will throw the case out and sanction the lawyer for being a dipshit and wasting everyone's time and money.
DeleteNo, the pretext is that the law in Michigan makes the vehicle owner automatically responsible for any death or injury caused by his or her vehicle, especially if the vehicle was being driven by a person who was given permission to drive it. By handing over his keys, he gave any employee of the dealership permission to drive his vehicle. The dealership owner was negligent for hiring the 19 year old & allowing him to attempt to drive stick without knowing how, but the dead employee's family cannot sue the owner, per Michigan law. They have to sue the "responsible party" namely the vehicle owner.
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This is why you don't give your keys to someone you don't trust. But anyway, the vehicle owner has consequently (and this is the standard procedure in cases like this) sued the dealership owner for "indemnity" meaning that the dealership/the person he gave permission to drive the car is responsible for paying any amount he (the vehicle owner) is sued for. A court granted that indemnity, so, barring an appeals court overturning that ruling, the dealership will end up paying. So... essentially the dead employee's family will end up getting paid by the employer (the dealership) anyway (barring an appeals court overturning that indemnity ruling, as I said) but they cannot and could not sue them directly. It's convoluted and seems stupid, and in some ways is stupid, but it's not the dead guy's family's fault. It's Michigan law.
I hate that I can't sign in!
-Bibliotheca Servare
I hate that I can't sign in!
DeleteI'm happy to learn that it's not just me...
Sounds like the estate is fishing for payouts. Sue the owner so their insurance company will be brought into the case.
ReplyDeleteHe is not a mechanic. Wake up
ReplyDeleteCountersue the dealer for every. single. dime.
ReplyDeleteMartyB
Bad car.
ReplyDeleteI used to say "This could only happen in Massachusetts (or Vermont)." Looks like the illness is spreading
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a solid case for suing the mother of the driver of the car that killed the man. If she had had an abortion, this would not have happened. And this makes as much sense as suing the owner of the car.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me as if Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge would get my business, shortly after Satan won the biathalon.
ReplyDeleteIf then.
I read somewhere else that this case rests on the legal theory that if you loan your vehicle to someone you are responsible for their actions while using it. By leaving his vehicle at the dealership the owner loaned it to the mechanic.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly the reason they're going after the owner is because in Michigan an employee can't sue his employer.
"because in Michigan an employee can't sue his employer."
DeleteWorkman's Compensation laws apply when an employee is killed or injured at work. The employer _will_ pay (via their insurance carrier), and a lawsuit isn't even needed, but the payout is limited. The way tort cases work out in the courts, very few wronged parties get grossly oversized awards with a huge split for their lawyers, and the other half of the lawyers (for the defense) are always well-paid. Workman's Comp replaced this jackpot justice with a system where lawyers don't play much of a role, and payouts are almost certain (even for most self-inflicted injuries), but not large.
Sounds like gross negligence on the part of the dealership. Gross negligence is usually not defensible.
ReplyDeleteFrankP
I've seen coverage of this elsewhere. Apparently Michigan law doesn't allow the estate to sue the dealer/service center directly, but the car owner is able to sue them, or something like that. Last I heard the insurance company has indemnified the car owner and will seek to recover money from the dealer/service center and/or their insurance.
ReplyDeleteWrong target: sue the oil company that provided the oil for the gas that powered the car while killing the mechanic. Oil companies have deeper pockets.
ReplyDeleteThat's not as far off as you may think. Friend worked for a company that made gas pumps for airfields. (The despensing kind, like at the gas station, not the fuel pump in the aircraft.) A small plane crashed, killing several. Sued everybody, including the fuel manufacturer, distributor, and the maker of the gas pump.
DeleteThat's not as far-fetched as might seem at first glance. Water-contaminated (or wrong) fuel can leave you trying to park on a cloud. Crash after an engine quit? Might not be the fuel as dispensed, but...
DeleteSince most people talk to and leave their keys with a service manager, wouldn't he be liable for turning the keys over to someone else? Should make for an interesting time as everyone starts to demand the Drivers License and driving record for everyone at the dealership.
ReplyDeleteSue the auto manufacturer for not having adequate warning placards in plain view stating the vehicle should not be operated by fuckwits.
ReplyDeleteI also like the story of the paralyzed guy suing a hotel in Maui because he asked an employee about a good beach. The employee suggested they go to Makena Beach. The guy said he didn't see warning signs that the surf was high and didn't hear the life guard say to stay out of the water. When the shore break is bad on Makena those signs are everywhere. You would have to be blind to not see them. The Guard Tower has speakers on top and you can hear them all the way to the parking lot. Those life guards are top shelf. I bet he wins the suit.
ReplyDeleteUsing this lawyer snake's logic, he should be shot dead with a 1911 so that his family can sue John Moses Browning. There's a reason that Biblical references to vipers is a metaphor for Satan; and there's ample examples of why people usually associate lawyers/politicians with vipers.
ReplyDeleteWe only associate the better ones with vipers. Most are much lower.
Deleteyes, but most importantly, was everyone fully vaxxed, quad-boosted and wearing their masks? oh, and how were BIPOC or Lgbtqia+ people most affected?
ReplyDeletethats the hard-hitting journalism I have cometo expect from our nation's newsrooms.
NY Post has more details:
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2022/05/08/michigan-man-sergio-enrique-diaz-navarro-sued-after-jeep-kills-mechanic-jeffrey-hawkins-during-oil-change/
The money quote: According to a summary filed in court on March 1, the court has ordered the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership, where the incident occurred, to indemnify Diaz-Navarro if he is found liable of negligence.
“So in reality, the owner is going to be held responsible, but the dealership’s insurance company is paying,” Femminineo told McClatchy News. He said he hopes a verdict in excess of $15 million is awarded.
That's bullshit. Why should the owner be held responsible, and have that on his record, when he did nothing wrong? Also, what's Femminineo's cut of that hoped-for $15M going to be?
Bonus Unconscious Bias section: I'd assumed that the 19-yo who fucked up was illegal (what sort of American doesn't have a license at age 19?). Maybe not: Dude is named "Daniel Thompson". NYP also describes what Thompson did that led to Hawkins being killed.
Honestly people, read the article, then follow the link to the slightly more detailed article. Don't just blather based on the headline or the blurb.
ReplyDelete(Old Tech) I do believe it should be all of those who helped produce the Fast and Furious movie franchise, as well as all of those who created and distributed every video game with fast cars and racing.
ReplyDeleteThere simply was not enough importance placed of the interaction between the clutch pedal and vehicle reaction for the new generation to learn and master such a skill by osmosis.
Blame Putin for it. If that doesn't work it has to be Hitlers fault somehow.
ReplyDelete