Jury awards $12.5M to man hurt on motorcycle

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Law enforcement officers photograph the area in front of the White House on Saturday after a man shot himself to death.

After an almost monthlong trial in Douglas County State Court in a highly contested case, a jury returned a verdict against Suzuki Motor Corp. and its U.S. affiliate, Suzuki Motor of America, on Feb. 21. Judge Neal Dettmering, who officially retired at the beginning of the year but was already overseeing the case, presided over the trial.

Douglasville resident, Adrian Johns, suffered permanent spine injuries when the front brake on his Suzuki-made GSX-R motorcycle did not work properly, the jury found, resulting in a crash on Aug. 12, 2013, in Cobb County.

The case revealed Suzuki knew of a brake design problem as far back as 2012 but chose to not warn customers and dealers during the busy sales season. Suzuki ultimately did issue a brake recall to address the problem, but it was 98 days after Johns crashed.

Suzuki vigorously defended the case by claiming that the recall condition did not apply and blamed rider error and poor maintenance for the crash.

According to Johns’ Douglasville attorney, John Sherrod, “Suzuki put AJ (Johns) on a bike with a bad brake and then criticized how he used it.”

“It is bad enough Suzuki kept the flawed brake a secret for almost a year, it then blamed one of its loyal customers for causing his own injuries,” Sherrod said.

The jury agreed with the Johns family, awarding $12.5 million in damages. The harms in the case included medical treatment for back surgery and lost income from Johns’ inability to ever return to his jobs at the post office and Air Force Reserves.

Suzuki may appeal the verdict or seek a reduction in the verdict, although Sherrod said, “another jury may see the case differently and decide to award punitive damages” which this jury decided to spare Suzuki that punishment.

“When a global company knows of a danger not just to its customers, but to all that share the road, and decides to not warn immediately, that is willfulness,” Sherrod said. “Willful misconduct of putting corporate greed over public safety must not be tolerated in our community.”

The jury heard from over 25 witnesses, including experts from both sides on braking, and other Suzuki customers who have experienced the same brake problem. Sherrod said this was the first case to go to trial in the United States for this alleged brake defect against Suzuki. Sherrod knows of at least five other cases that will be tried later this year in other states across the country.