You know that wearing a seat belt can save your life, but what if your safety harness ends up causing your personal injury in an automobile accident?

That’s what happened to Billy Meals and because of that, Ford Motor Company was ordered to pay out $6.5 million by a Memphis court.  Meals was paralyzed from the waist down in a fatal car accident in 2002 that killed three people.

Our firm’s San Diego car accident lawyers hate to hear about these types of accidents, especially when children’s injuries are so severe that they lead to paralysis.  There is equal amount of regret because two of the three people killed in the auto accident were Meals’ father and grandfather.

On January 18, 2002, the Meals family was driving on to the hospital to visit Billy’s great uncle when their car was hit by a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass driven by John M. Harris.  Though he also died at the scene, Harris was found to be driving under the influence and had cocaine in his blood, making him 70 percent at fault for the car accident.

Ford was liable by a Memphis Circuit Court for 15 percent of its $43.8-million total judgment because the adult seatbelt Meals — who was six-years-old at the time — had used was determined to be a defective product and not suitable for a child.  The jury said that Meal’s spinal cord injury was only enhanced by Ford’s seatbelts.

Our firm’s car accident lawyers in San Diego want to remind everyone to buckle up your children in the proper car seats and seat belts, so that they hopefully will not require medical treatment if you do get in a car accident.  Seatbelts can save your life if they are used the right way and properly equipped by their manufacturers.

Call us now or click here for a free consultation with an experienced San Diego car accident lawyer as to how we may help you at 1-800-655-6585.  We look forward to providing good advice to help you make smart decisions about your case in either English or Spanish.  There is no fee if no recovery.

About Michael Pines

Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.