Stroud et al. v. Kia Motors America Inc. et al.

Product liability, Wrongful death

Los Angeles County

Superior Court Judge Frederick C. Shaller

Dollar amount

James P. Feeney

Defense Lawyers: Dykema Gossett PLLC, James P. Feeney, Dommond E. Lonnie, Michael R. Carey, Cory L. Webster, James S. Azadian

Plaintiff's Lawyers: Bisnar Chase LLP, Brian D. Chase; Dennis Law Group PC, Jonathan S. Dennis; Ghozland Law Firm, Michael F. Ghozland ntiff's Lawyers: Bisnar Chase LLP, Brian D. Chase; Dennis Law Group PC, Jonathan S. Dennis; Ghozland Law Firm, Michael F. Ghozland

In a horrific car crash in 2017 on Highway 99 in Fresno, a 2016 Kia Optima ran off the road and smashed into an abutment, leaving Jeremiah Stroud, age 5, paralyzed from the waist down and with a traumatic brain injury. His grandmother and great-grandmother, who was driving, were killed.

In the wrongful death, personal injury and product liability suit that followed, the plaintiffs' lawyers sought $87 million. The chief challenge for Kia's defense lawyer, James P. Feeney of Dykema Gossett PLLC, was to overcome the plaintiffs' contention that defects in the car's electronic steering system caused the driver to lose control.

"This was not a mechanical parts case," said Feeney, who has decades of experience in automotive defect litigation and other matters. "The toughest thing here was dealing with the technological issues over trouble codes in the car's onboard computers. It was challenging to take the abstract concepts involved and reduce them to simple terms for the jury."

Dommond E. Lonnie

He persuaded the panel that the data faults described by the plaintiffs' expert did not cause the crash, leading to a 9-3 defense win following 75 minutes of deliberation. The trial took 20 days. Stroud v. Kia Motors America Inc., BC705872 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 14, 2018).

"Our novel approach was to successfully convince the jury that their expert inadvertently introduced those trouble codes into the data during testing. He manufactured his own set of codes--by accident, we believed--which he relied on and misinterpreted. Our defense was that not only did we do nothing wrong, but the evidence to the contrary was manufactured by the plaintiffs."

In post-trial polling of the jury, Feeney said, "We learned they accepted our point of view."

Feeney said he's had cases before involving challenges to automotive electronics. "I call 'em poltergeists-in-the-system cases, but this was much more complex, because our expert spent hundreds of hours testing the computer electronics to explain what they had done. When I completed the direct examination of our expert, I could tell we had successfully interacted with the jury. They were really receptive to our case."

The plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Brian D. Chase of Bisnar Chase LLP, said in an email that he is appealing the outcome. "Plaintiffs' still contend and believe the evidence showed that the 2016 Kia Optima is defective. Specifically, the subject Kia's motor drive power steering unit (MDPS) malfunctioned, leading to a catastrophic loss of steering control that was the sole cause of the subject accident and which left two people dead and a minor paralyzed. Plaintiffs' are appealing several evidentially rulings that they believe were improper and which impermissibly let the jury consider evidence that was irrelevant and not related to the subject accident."

-- John Roemer