Macomb County Jury Awards $5.65 Million After Chrysler Pickup Runs Man Over on Hunting Trip

In November 2006, Tony Broeren of Bruce Township was at a hunting cabin near Evart, Michigan, when a friend ran him over with a pickup truck. The friend, Roy Bates II of Chesterfield Township, worked for Chrysler and was driving a company-owned Dodge Ram. Bates hit the gas instead of the brake, struck Broeren, and drove him head-first into the log cabin.

The injuries were severe. Broeren suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken jaw, and a crushed knee that required several surgeries, along with neck, back, and shoulder injuries. He had worked as an electro-mechanical engineer before the crash, and his doctors said he would never be able to return to that kind of work.

Chrysler owned and insured the truck, so it was financially responsible for the damages even though Bates was the named defendant. The company did not seriously dispute that its driver caused the crash. Michigan's no-fault system sets a high bar before an injured person can recover pain-and-suffering damages, and Chrysler built its defense around minimizing how disabling the brain injury was and what it cost Broeren in future earnings and quality of life. The highest offer the company made before trial was $600,000, far below what the case was worth.

Steven Gursten of Michigan Auto Law represented Tony and his wife, Lisa. The case went to a seven-day trial in Macomb County Circuit Court before Judge Mary Chrzanowski, with more than 20 witnesses. On August 13, 2008, the jury returned $5.65 million, one of the largest auto verdicts Macomb County had seen. Michigan Lawyers Weekly reported it as the largest reported auto negligence verdict in Michigan that year.

Chrysler fought the result. It moved for a new trial, arguing the wrong verdict form was used and that the jury should have been told to itemize future damages year by year, based on life expectancy, under the Revised Judicature Act. The form Chrysler attacked was the standard one used in Michigan auto negligence cases since 1999, approved by a committee the Michigan Supreme Court had formed.

Judge Chrzanowski rejected the argument and denied the motion. The $5.65 million verdict stood without reduction, and Chrysler remained responsible for paying it.