A U.S. Navy lieutenant says he wasdriving a new Hyundai when suddenly the wheel malfunctioned,causing the car to cross lanes of Interstate 95. (Photo:Hyundai)

A Connecticut jury recently found that thefront driver's side wheel of a new Hyundai Elantra was not defective whenthe vehicle crossed lanes of a highway, injuring the driver.

The lawsuit

In his September 2015 lawsuit, Ryan Brown Jr., a28-year-old U.S. Navy lieutenant, says he was driving the newvehicle, which he had purchased 13 days earlier, when suddenly thewheel malfunctioned, causing the car to cross lanes of Interstate95 in Old Lyme, Conn., before eventually being brought to a stop inthe median.

The lawsuit says no other vehicles struck Brown's car, but Browndid say he was “violently thrown about the interior of thevehicle,” suffering orthopedic injuries requiring multiplesurgeries and resulting in permanent disabilities. The lawsuit saidBrown has suffered lower back pain, chronic pain to his rightshoulder and right hip and intermittent lateral ankle pain.

The verdict

In interrogatories, a six-person New London Superior Court juryanswered a key question July 3, which sealed the verdict for thedefense: “Was the subject wheel defective because it did not complywith design specifications or performance standard?”

The answer to that question, the jury determined, was no.

The trial lasted six days and jury deliberations lasted “amatter of minutes,” according to David Case, a partnerwith Hartford-based McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney &Carpenter, who served as one of two defense attorneys for DavidCartwright, owner of Central Hyundai in Plainfield. In addition toCartwright and the dealership, Hyundai Motor America Inc., wasnamed as a defendant.

While the plaintiff maintained the cast aluminum wheel wasdefective, the defense argued and brought several experts totestify they believed the car struck a large object before theincident.

“We did offer at trial that the plaintiff struck something nearor in the highway to cause the fracture,” Case said.

Specifically, Case told the Connecticut Law Tribune last week,state Department of Transportation records showed there wasconstruction work on Interstate 95 in that area at the time ofincident.

“DOT records, including photos at the time, showed there washeavy construction done to the overpass,” Case said. “There wereconstruction supplies, debris and equipment near the roadway. Thetestimony was the incident with the wheel could have been generatedby a piece of iron, concrete debris or a large enough piece oflumber. All the laboratory testing showed the wheel met allspecifications and was not defective.”

Thor Holth, a partner with New London-based Holth & Kollman,represented Brown. Holth told the Connecticut Law Tribune he hasfiled a motion for a new trial. Holth had no further comment.

Case said plaintiffs had requested about $700,000 at trial.Immediately prior to trial, Case said, their demand wasas much as $1.5 million and was later reduced to$775,000.

Prior to the jury verdict being rendered, Case said, “We feltconfident because of how the evidence was presented. Our client,Hyundai, takes seriously the allegations that their product wasdefective. The product, though, is totally safe and notdefective.”

Robert Maxwell of Covington, Louisiana-based Bernard, Cassisa,Elliott & Davis assisted Case in the matter.

This piece first published at law.com.

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