$43.1 Million Verdict for Quadriplegic After Seat Back Collapsed in Rear-End Crash

On August 4, 2007, Dzemila Heco, a resident of Essex Junction, Vermont, was wearing her seatbelt and waiting at a traffic light when another vehicle struck her 2000 Dodge Neon from behind. The force of the impact was not unusual for the type of collision that seat systems are designed to absorb. What happened next turned a survivable crash into a catastrophic injury.

The seatback in her car gave way. When the recliner mechanism on one side of the seat failed, the backrest collapsed rearward, leaving Heco effectively unrestrained during the critical moment of impact. She sustained severe spinal-cord injuries that left her quadriplegic.

Heco and her two sons, Kenan and Emir, filed suit against Johnson Controls Inc., the Milwaukee-based manufacturer that designed and built the seat. The plaintiff's team, including attorney Robert Langdon of Langdon and Emison and co-counsel Robin Curtiss of Van Dorn and Curtiss (New Hampshire), argued that the single-sided recliner design was defective and that the failure directly caused Dzemila's catastrophic outcome. Johnson Controls maintained that its design 'significantly exceeded all government and industry safety standards, as well as Chrysler's own specifications,' and disputed that the seat was at fault.

After trial, the Chittenden County jury disagreed. On July 2, 2013, it returned a verdict of $43.1 million, broken down as follows: $621,171 in past medical bills, roughly $26.5 million for future medical care, $355,024 in past lost income, $1.25 million in future lost income, and $14.37 million for pain and suffering. The verdict was reported at the time as the largest civil verdict in Vermont state court history.

Johnson Controls stated after the verdict that it was evaluating its options on appeal. The trial court entered final judgment against Johnson Controls for $36,948,123, and in Heco v. Foster Motors (2015 VT 3), the Vermont Supreme Court addressed a related indemnification cross-claim without disturbing the plaintiff's recovery against the seat manufacturer.