Mitsubishi Motors Corp. won reversal of a $10.9 million jury verdict awarded in 2008 to the family of a Florida man who died in a rollover accident.
Scott Laliberte, 25, was killed in September 2004 when the seat back collapsed and he was partly ejected from a 2000 Mitsubishi Nativa. His family claimed defects in the seat back and seat belt. In February 2008, a West Palm Beach, Florida, jury found a defect in the Nativa caused Laliberte's death.
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal yesterday ordered a new trial, finding that the Tokyo, Japan-based automaker was unfairly prevented from putting on evidence of seat-belt and seat-back tests by the company's expert witnesses.
"When the trial court excluded Mitsubishi's demonstrative evidence, its expert's opinions were barren and unsubstantiated. The trial court's error was not harmless," the court said yesterday.
"Our experts were allowed to offer opinions but they weren't allowed to show the reasons behind the opinions," Mitsubishi lawyer Scott Paxton said yesterday in an interview. This "reduced their credibility" to the jury, he said.
No new trial date has been set, Paxton said. The Laliberte family is likely to appeal the decision, he said.
Don Fountain, the family's attorney, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment yesterday.
The lawsuit is Laliberte v. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., CA 05-6369, Circuit Court, Palm Beach County, Florida (West Palm Beach). The appellate case is Mitsubishi v. Laliberte, 4DO8- 2211, Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal.
