Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors, an ally of Renault and Nissan, announced on Thursday that the United States had ordered it to pay $1 billion in damages in a traffic accident case that affected one of its vehicles.
Mitsubishi Motors clarified in a statement that it did not accept this ruling regarding its North American subsidiary MMNA, which it plans to appeal.
While it is not uncommon to see damages exceeding $1 million in traffic accident cases in the United States, the amount awarded in this case is particularly high, although not a record.
This trial started in 2018 is related to a traffic accident that occurred the previous year in Pennsylvania (northeastern United States).
The vehicle was not defective, says Mitsubishi
Francis Amagasu, who was driving a Mitsubishi 3000 GT, lost control of his sports car while trying to overtake a vehicle in front of him. The accident left him quadriplegic.
A Philadelphia court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the wife of Francis Amagasu, who claimed that her husband’s serious injuries were due to a malfunctioning seat belt, and that therefore the vehicle manufacturer should be responsible.
Mitsubishi Motors “disputes the plaintiff’s claim that the vehicle was defective,” the manufacturer reacted in its press release.
The sentence, handed down on Monday and notified to Mitsubishi Motors on Wednesday, confirms the decision of a popular jury of the same court last October, which ordered similar compensation.
As the manufacturer plans to appeal, the impact of this conviction on its future financial results remains “uncertain”, he added.
This clarification did not prevent its stock from falling 4.4% on Thursday in the mid-session break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, going against the market’s bullish trend.
In 2022, the American manufacturer Ford was sentenced to pay $1.7 billion in damages for a manufacturing defect in one of its models that caused the death of a couple in Georgia (southern United States) in a traffic accident. traffic in 2014.
Source: BFM TV
