Verdict: $4,500,000

A sixty-year-old woman who was survived by two adult children was one of twelve passengers on a Dodge Model B3500 Wag “cargo van.” The vehicle traveling southbound on I 55 rolled over and crashed in a snow storm killing all passengers and the driver. The plaintiff's estate alleged that the vehicle when near capacity became unstable as a result of a high center of gravity and caused the vehicle to “yaw.”

            The plaintiff's counsel using reconstruction engineers and design engineers was able to show that the “yaw” pattern had occurred immediately before the crash.

            The Taylor estate obtained the largest individual settlement of all plaintiffs.          

 Estate of Taylor v. Chrysler Motor Co.