Clayton News Daily
Home Depot answers lawsuit
Home Depot and the man accused of dropping a dryer that
caused a fatal accident on I-75 have answered a lawsuit filed by the family of
the Atlanta man who was killed in the accident.
Michael T. Hall, 43, was killed on March 8 when he swerved to avoid the dryer
in I-75's northbound lanes near Forest Parkway while driving home in his 1996
Isuzu Rodeo from his sons' Little League baseball game in McDonough. The Rodeo
rolled over several times in the accident but Hall's two sons, 9-year-old
Michael and 6-year-old Marcus, were not badly injured.
In April Hall's widow Sabrina Hall filed the lawsuit against
Jose Luna Gonzalez, the Hapeville man who bought the dryer that fell from his
truck, Home Depot that is the company that sold the dryer and Isuzu Motors
America, Isuzu Motors Inc. and Subaru-Isuzu Automotive Inc.
Short of admitting that he bought the dryer and that it fell out of his truck,
and that he is a citizen of Georgia and subject to the jurisdiction of the
court, in his answer Gonzalez denies any negligence in the case. Gonzalez also
faces criminal charges of in the case, misdemeanor vehicular homicide and
failure to secure a load.
Along with contesting the Halls' right to seek punitive damage against the
company, Home Depot denies in its answer all liability in the incident. The
lawsuit alleges that Home Depot was negligent because it did not help Gonzalez
to secure the dryer in his pickup truck or warn him of the dangers the dryer
could cause if it fell out of the truck.
The answers were pretty standard, said the Halls' attorney Quinton Seay.
Aspects of the lawsuit were interesting, said Perry
Binder, an assistant professor of legal studies at Georgia State University's
Robinson College of Business. He was especially interested in one of the
allegations against Isuzu.
In general the suit alleges that a design failure in Hall's Isuzu Rodeo caused
it to roll when he tried to avoid the dryer. It also alleges that Isuzu
"discarded documents and engineering data regarding the Trooper to avoid
additional liability in United States courts."
"Isuzu, if these allegations are true, faces enormous liability,"
Binder said. "Based on my experience jurors would be more sympathetic to a
company that presents damaging documents than to a company that destroyed
documents."
Binder compared the allegation to those made against the Arthur
Anderson auditing firm in the Enron case.
In its answer Isuzu Motors America, Inc. denies the allegation. Seay said the
allegation is "a known fact" and said that in previous, similar litigation
Isuzu failed to provide the documents, documents that it is reasonable to
believe Isuzu should have because other car companies keep such research
records.
As for the impact the case would have on Home Depot, Binder said much
of that depends on the information that is revealed in the discovery phase of
the trial on the number of similar accidents that occurred at Home Depots
around the state and nation.
"That's the largest question from the consumer's standpoint," Binder said.
Getting those statistics will be challenging, Binder said, and Seay also said
he expects "a lot of litigation" in their pursuit of that information.
"Home Depot historically guards its injuries statistics very closely," Binder
said.
Binder predicted that Home Depot would object to releasing the
information on the basis that the statistics are a protected trade secret, a
tactic he said the company has taken in a Cobb County lawsuit regarding
another issue.
Other information that should be sought in the discovery phase, according to
Binder, is the level of training Home Depot employees receive on loading and
securing appliances, whether they warn the general public about the dangers of
transporting heavy appliances and whether a Home Depot employee helped
Gonzales load the dryer into his truck.
Seay said there are no dates set yet for hearings in the lawsuit, which is
filed in State Court of Fulton County.