Kentucky Federal Jury Finds U-Haul Liable After Tow Dolly Crash Leaves Mother a Quadriplegic
After trial: The ranked $10.5 million is the amount after the jury assigned 10 percent comparative fault to the driver plaintiff. Judge Heyburn denied U-Haul's motions for judgment as a matter of law and a new trial on June 21, 2007.
Won by Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd, Conway & Stanton, PSC and Peter Perlman Law Offices PSC.
A federal jury in Louisville found U-Haul liable under products liability and negligence theories after a rented tow dolly and the Ford Contour on it swayed on Interstate 65 in October 2002, flipping the family Explorer and leaving Corry Burke a quadriplegic. The jury awarded about $11.6 million and put 10 percent of the fault on the driver, so $10.5 million stood. Judge Heyburn denied U-Haul's post-trial motions in June 2007.
What happened
On the afternoon of October 29, 2002, Christopher Burke was driving his family from Indianapolis to West Palm Beach, Florida, in a Ford Explorer Sport. Behind it, on a 102-inch tow dolly rented the day before from a U-Haul center in Indianapolis, rode the family's 1999 Ford Contour. The Explorer and the Contour weighed about the same.
Rain was falling on Interstate 65 near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, when the dolly and the Contour began to fishtail as Burke entered a slight left curve. The Contour slid sideways across the path of the Explorer, whose right side struck the guardrail and flipped onto it. The rail came through the roof and badly injured the cervical spine of his wife, Corry Burke, who was left a quadriplegic. The couple's young son suffered facial lacerations.
The family sued U-Haul International and two affiliated U-Haul companies in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, with claims of strict liability and negligence. Ford was also a defendant but settled before trial. Their central theory was that U-Haul rented tow dollies for a 1:1 weight ratio between towing and towed vehicle. Their experts testified that a ratio of 2:1 was safer, and that U-Haul had once barred light utility vehicles from towing and had loosened its rules without enough testing. U-Haul blamed the driver and its experts defended the pairing.
Tyler S. Thompson of Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd & Kinney PSC in Louisville tried the case for the Burkes alongside Peter Perlman and Joshua M. Robinson of Peter Perlman Law Offices PSC in Lexington. After a two-week trial before Chief Judge John G. Heyburn II, the jury found U-Haul liable under both the products liability and negligence instructions. It awarded about $11.6 million on each theory and assigned 10 percent of the fault to Christopher Burke as driver. The court entered judgment at $10.5 million. Judge Heyburn had earlier directed a verdict for U-Haul on punitive damages.
U-Haul asked for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial. Judge Heyburn denied both on June 21, 2007. He wrote that the plaintiffs had shown a feasible alternative design in renting the dolly only for a 2:1 weight ratio, and that the evidence supported the jury's finding that the 1:1 pairing was a substantial factor in the crash. Because the negligence verdict was identical, he noted, it would stand even if the products claim fell. The opinion also praised the lawyers on both sides and called the total damages 'not surprising.'
We found no published Sixth Circuit ruling on the case and no public record of a settlement or payment.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Burke v. U-Haul International Inc., 501 F. Supp. 2d 930 (W.D. Ky. June 21, 2007), No. 3:03-CV-32-H
- 2.Caselaw Access Project, Burke v. U-Haul International Inc., 501 F. Supp. 2d 930 (W.D. Ky. 2007)·Archived copy
- 3.Burke v. U-Haul International Inc., No. 3:03-CV-32-H, Memorandum Opinion and Order (W.D. Ky. Oct. 24, 2006)·Archived copy
- 4.Insurance Journal, 'U-Haul Trailer Practices Raise Car Accident Risk, Newspaper Reports', June 26, 2007·Archived copy
More proven verdicts from Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd, Conway & Stanton, PSC
All Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd, Conway & Stanton, PSC proven verdicts →A Jefferson Circuit Court jury awarded $163,973,760 to Jilianne Warner, who was left permanently quadriplegic after a GEICO-dispatched tow truck plowed into her stopped car at highway speed; the verdict was later overturned on appeal.
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