$10.2 Million Verdict Against Volkswagen for Vanagon Rear-Seat Lap-Belt Design

On February 19, 1991, the Trull family was returning from a ski trip in Conway, New Hampshire when their 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon hit black ice and collided head-on with an oncoming AMC Concorde. David Trull was driving. His son Benjamin, age nine, and son Nathaniel, age thirteen, were riding in the rear bench seat. Elizabeth Trull, the boys' mother, was also in the vehicle.

The rear seat carried lap belts only, with no shoulder belts. In the crash, Benjamin died from his injuries. Nathaniel sustained a depressed skull fracture and epidural hematoma that required emergency craniotomy surgery. Elizabeth also suffered severe brain damage. The family alleged that Volkswagen had known shoulder belts were feasible for rear occupants and chose not to install them, making the collision's injuries far worse than they needed to be.

The case went to trial in federal district court in New Hampshire. The first jury found Volkswagen not liable. On appeal, the First Circuit certified a key legal question to the New Hampshire Supreme Court: in a crashworthiness case involving indivisible injuries, which side bears the burden of apportioning damages? In 2000 the New Hampshire Supreme Court answered that once a plaintiff shows a design defect substantially contributed to enhanced injuries, the defendant must carry that apportionment burden.

With that ruling in hand, the case went back to trial. Swartz and Swartz attorneys Edward M. Swartz, David P. Angueira, and Alan L. Cantor presented evidence that shoulder belts were a practical and available option for the Vanagon's rear bench and that Volkswagen's choice to omit them was negligent. The second jury agreed on negligence, though it declined to find strict-liability design defect. It awarded Nathaniel Trull $8,917,335.27 and the estate of Benjamin Trull $1,290,980.70, totaling approximately $10.2 million.

Volkswagen appealed, arguing among other things that the evidence was insufficient and that certain expert testimony should have been excluded. On November 14, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously affirmed the full verdict. The appellate court found ample evidence supporting the jury's conclusion that VW was negligent in not equipping the Vanagon with rear shoulder belts and that this omission caused or worsened the family's catastrophic injuries.