Chong Law Firm, P.A.

On March 7, 2015, Ludmilla Permint was driving a 2014 Kia Soul in Sussex County when another vehicle struck it, and her husband Charles Permint, 74, seated in the front passenger seat, suffered fatal blunt chest trauma. The Permint family sued Kia Motors Corporation, Kia Motors America, and the dealership defendants, arguing a defective seat belt and restraint system let him strike the dashboard on impact. After a two-week trial in Delaware Superior Court, a jury found Kia negligent in the design of the restraint system and negligent in failing to warn of the risk, and awarded $1,600,000 in compensatory damages, apportioned among his widow, son, daughter, and granddaughter. The court denied Kia's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial and the same day granted the family prejudgment interest of $647,276.67, bringing the total judgment to roughly $2.25 million.