Chrylser/GM Bankruptcy – Victims’ Stories
Linda Catalano, Forestville, MI
Jimmy Davis, Hawkinsville, Georgia
Amanda Dinnigan, Long Island, NY
Joseph Garrett, Dallas, Georgia
Farbod Nourian, Los Angeles, CA
Marie P. Wilkinson, Warren, OH
Linda Catalano, Forestville, MI
Catalano v. Chrysler LLC, 08-32664-NP
On the evening of August 3, 2008 at the intersection of Cedar Street near 6th Street in Forestville, Michigan, then fifty-five year old mother and grandmother, Linda Catalano had just completed a garage sale and had left her home located at 5510 Cass River Road, Minden City to pick up some garage sale signs remaining along the road. She was driving east on Cedar Street in Forestville in a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country Mini-Van when she evidently stopped the vehicle along the roadway to pick up some of her signs.
Ms. Catalano then placed her vehicle into what she must have reasonably believed to be “park” and opened the door and stepped out of the subject vehicle to pick up her garage sale signs, with the engine running and the driver’s side door open. After a delay sufficient for Ms. Catalano to exit the subject vehicle, the vehicle “self-shifted” into reverse, knocking Ms. Catalano to the ground and dragging her underneath the left front tire, where it pinned her. As a result of this accident, Ms. Catalano sustained fatal blunt force neck trauma which resulted from the separation of the C-2/C-3 neck vertebrae.
Ms. Catalano left behind three children, Brian Catalano, Christina Catalano, and Bradley Catalano, and grandchildren, who adored her and miss her to this day.
Jimmy Davis, Hawkinsville, Georgia
Jimmie Davis, a retired manager for a local department store, was on his way to a tornado battered town of Americus, with his wife Nell, to survey the damage and offer assistance. It was about 3 p.m., on March 4, 2007, when the Davises were westbound on Georgia Highway 27 in their Jeep Grand Cherokee. William Koos, who had been stopped at the intersection of Highway 195 and Highway 27, crossed the intersection and inadvertently tapped the left rear corner of the Jeep with the left front bumper of his vehicle. Davis lost control of the vehicle and the Jeep rolled over and came to a rest on its roof. The roof collapsed on Jimmie Davis, who died of a head injury. Davis had three children and four grandchildren.
Amanda Dinnigan, Long Island, NY
On February 21, 2007, 10-year-old Amanda Dinnigan, was a passenger in a one-vehicle crash, that left her a high-level quadriplegic. Amanda was seated in the third row seat of a GMC Envoy XL. The seat and seat belt system were designed so that in a crash, occupants slide down, but are caught by the neck, because the shoulder belt is anchored too high. In the crash, the driver, Amanda’s mother Arlene, and the front row passenger sustained minor injuries. A second-row occupant suffered a broken leg. A second third-row child passenger had ligament damage to her neck, but Amanda’s neck was severely dislocated, and she was paralyzed from the neck down. These are classic Forgotten Child injuries caused by restraint designs that do not accommodate children who are too small for adult-sized seat belts, but too large for child safety seats Amanda now requires a ventilator to breathe. Her medical expenses are approximately $500,000 per year.
Amanda’s case was ready to go to trial when GM filed for bankruptcy. Dinnigan’s parents, Local 361 Ironworker Bob Dinnigan and his wife have been fighting vigorously to save their daughter’s case from being wiped out by the bankruptcy. They have launched a website devoted to Amanda’s case, where visitors can contact New York’s U.S. Representatives or Senators to lobby for fairness to the victims of defects. For more information, click here.
Joseph Garrett, Dallas, Georgia
On the afternoon of August 9, 2007, Joseph Anthony Garrett, 20, was driving on Old Beulah Road in Douglas County, Georgia, when Garrett lost control of his 2006 Chevrolet Colorado pick-up truck. His truck crashed and he was ejected – even though the event data recorder (the automotive version of a “black box”) showed that he was properly wearing his safety belt and shoulder harness. Garrett died of his injuries. General Motors never made any attempts to settle the case, and under the proposed bankruptcy they can ignore it altogether.
On August 4, 2007, Dzemila Heco was stopped at a light on Center road in Essex, Vermont when she was rear-ended. Although Heco was wearing her seat belt, the 2000 Dodge Neon’s restraint system failed. The force of the crash threw Heco into the rear seat and broke her spine, leaving her a quadriplegic. Before the crash, Heco had just completed her training as a dental assistant, and was ready to embark on a new career. Today, the 46-year-old woman is totally dependent on Medicaid and her younger son, who serves as her primary caretaker.
Dzemila Heco and her two sons fled the ethnic violence in Bosnia in 1995, in pursuit of a better life in America. That dream was wiped out in the crash. Besides giving his mom round-the-clock care, Kenan Heco, 22, is struggling to attend college and work to pay the mounting daily living expenses and the many thousands of dollars in medical bills not covered under Medicaid. For example, Dzemila Heco needs to change her catheter five times a day, but Medicaid only covers the expenses for six per month.
“It’s so tough,” says Kenan. “I just want to be able to make our lives easier. Even if Chrysler were to give us $100 billion, it would not bring back the life we had before. They don’t build safe cars and I would not recommend Chrysler to any one.”
Farbod Nourian, Los Angeles, CA
In the fall of 2007, Farbod Nourian was in his senior year at UCLA, studying history, and planning to apply to law school. But that November he was seriously injured, when the 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee he had just exited slipped, without warning from park to reverse. Nourian was walking behind the vehicle to get into the passenger’s seat, when he noticed the Jeep start to move backwards, he turned and was caught by the door. He grabbed onto the door, but when the vehicle hit a wall, it knocked him to the concrete, rupturing three disks and crushing his vertebrae. He now suffers from chronic pain and gastrointestinal distress. According to his doctors, he faces a lifetime of pain that will only get worse as he ages.
In February 2002, Chrysler submitted a defect report to NHTSA outlining a park-to-reverse problem with 1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and initiated a recall of those model years. The agency’s probe uncovered 424 park-to-reverse crashes involving the Grand Cherokee from 1993 to 2002, resulting in 192 injuries and four fatalities.
“I am obviously concerned about my own health, and believe it is unjust for Chrysler to take billions in taxpayer funds and tell me that I am on my own despite being injured by their actions,” Nourian said. “While many victims can and will sue Chrysler’s dealers and suppliers, I can not easily do this since the vehicle was sold used. I’ll be left without anything for my injuries. I am also concerned about future victims, and those who simply have problems with their vehicles that Chrysler refuses to fix under warranties.”
On September 17, 2007 Ivon Toe, 38, was a second row passenger in a 1997 Plymouth Voyager, when the left rear tire suffered a catastrophic failure. The driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled over several times, before landing in a ditch. The Chrysler minivan was equipped with seatbelts that latched via a Gen3 buckle. In the course of the crash, the Voyager’s door, which lacked dual locks, popped off the vehicle. Mrs. Toe’s set belt buckled also failed and she was ejected. The mother of four children ages 9 to 19, Toe is now a quadriplegic, dependent on a ventilator and living in a long-term care facility in Norwalk, Iowa. Mrs. Toe was a political refugee who fled to the U.S. after her family was murdered in the genocide in West Africa. She was a good U.S. citizen, who worked hard and her paid taxes. Now, she is confined to a bed for the remainder of her life.
Marie P. Wilkinson, Warren, OH
Lovitz v. Chrysler LLC, N.D. of Ohio, Case No. 1:08CV0629
On March 23, 2006, after spending the day, as she often did, with her daughter and grandchild looking at prospective pre-schools, beloved grandmother, mother, and friend, 64 year old Marie P. Wilkinson drove a Chrysler-manufactured 1995 Plymouth Neon back to her home. Upon nearing her home, she drove slowly onto its flat entrance and stopped to get her mail. She then placed the vehicle into what she reasonably believed was to be “park” and likely believing that the vehicle was in “park,” exited the vehicle with the engine running to retrieve her mail. After a brief delay, the vehicle suddenly self-shifted into powered reverse, knocking Ms. Wilkinson to the ground. The vehicle then ran over her head, inflicting fatal head and neck injuries.
Ms. Wilkinson was actively involved in the lives of her children and grandchildren as she lived only 15-20 minutes away and saw and spoke with them daily. To her children, William, Charles, Lori, and Cheryl, she was the parent whose advice, wisdom, and support was sought regularly on everything from how to cook dinner to how to care for a sick child, and gave freely of her time babysitting for her grandchildren. To her grandchildren, she was “Nana,” the loving grandparent who watched over them as their parents were at work. Her children even joked that she attended more soccer games, baseball games, swim meets, Halloween parties, and school functions for her grandchildren than they as parents did. In short, she gave everything she could to all her family members, unconditionally, routinely and selflessly.
The accident has shattered the lives of her family members as not a day goes by that her family does not think of the grandmother, mother, and friend whose constant love, advice, support, and wisdom are no longer part of their everyday lives. Her children and grandchildren still grieve and experience her loss on a daily basis. In fact, one grandchild still carries a picture of her with him every day, while another grandchild has a picture of her by her bed stand. Her children have also surrounded themselves with her possessions as they are all that remain of her.
Her death is even more senseless in light of Chrysler’s early knowledge of the park-to-reverse defect in its vehicles.
