CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE.
On Friday, April 5, 2013, a Seattle jury agreed Toyota's 2004 Lexus ES was not defective and not responsible for the injury claims in Lindemann v. Toyota. Plaintiffs' asked for $30 million in their closing argument.
This case arose out of a two-vehicle accident that occurred on June 7, 2009. Plaintiff Allyn Lindemann was driving her 2004 Lexus ES 330 toward home on eastbound NE Novelty Hill Road in Redmond, Washington. She was the only occupant in her vehicle. At approximately 6:53 p.m., a 2002 Jeep Liberty, driven by Jocelynn Wheeler and traveling westbound on NE Novelty Hill Road, crossed the centerline and struck Ms. Lindemann's Lexus in a primarily head-on fashion. Plaintiffs claimed the front structure of the vehicle was defective. Key to this case was in August, the IIHS announced a new consumer metric test that rated a similar ES as poor in a small overlap test.
The case was venued in King County Superior Court, Seattle, Washington. The case was heard by The Honorable Douglass A. North.
Plaintiffs were represented by James S. Rogers, Esq. and Dana A. Henderson, Esq. of the Law Offices of James S. Rogers, Seattle, Washington and Matthew G. Knopp, Esq. and Felix G. Luna, Esq. of the law firm of Peterson Wampold Rosato Luna Knopp also of Seattle, Washington.
Defendant Toyota was represented by James W. Halbrooks of Bowman and Brooke LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota and David J. Russell of Keller Rohrback, LLP of Seattle, Washington.