GM ignition switch off the hook in crash

Texas jury says embattled part not at fault in fatality

HOUSTON — A Texas jury Thursday found that a General Motors ignition switch was not to blame for a 2011 accident that killed one driver and injured another, handing the carmaker its third courtroom win this year in a series of trials designed to help attorneys settle dozens of similar claims.

The jury deliberated less than two hours in reaching its verdict in a trial that began Aug. 9.

Zachary Stevens and his parents had sued GM, claiming a faulty ignition switch in Stevens’ Saturn Sky jostled off, causing him to lose control of his car and hit another vehicle, killing its driver. Stevens’ attorneys say he suffered a traumatic brain injury and a skull fracture in the accident.

The switches can slip out of the on position, causing the cars to stall, knocking out power steering and turning off air bags. GM says it has fixed the problem.

Josh Davis, Stevens’ attorney, said that while his client never hid the fact that he was speeding before the accident, Stevens and his family still maintain the ignition switch was the main cause.

“It’s obviously very disappointing,” Davis said after the verdict. He had asked jurors to award the Stevens family more than $14.5 million.

Attorneys for GM told jurors in Houston the accident was caused by Stevens’ reckless speeding on a rain-slick road.

“As a result, an innocent man was killed. The accident had nothing to do with either General Motors or the ignition switch,” GM spokesman Jim Cain said in a statement after the verdict.

Stevens, who was 19 at the time, had been driving westbound on a road northeast of Houston near the town of New Caney when his car began to act erratically and he was unable to control it, according to his attorneys.

Stevens’ car hit a guardrail and went into the eastbound lane, where it struck a vehicle driven by Mariano Landaverde, who died at the scene. Landaverde’s family had also been part of the lawsuit but settled out of court with GM.