KUSA - A Highlands Ranch woman badly injured in a car crash last year is suing General Motors. Kristin Hopkins crashed down an embankment off Highway 285 in Park County in April 2014. Both of her feet and part of her lower legs had to be amputated.
The lawsuit alleges that defects in Hopkins' 2009 Chevrolet Malibu led to the accident. Among the claims: that the car's electronic stability control and its electronic power steering both failed to work just before the accident.
Just a few months after Hopkins' crash, GM, which owns Chevrolet, issued a recall relating to the Malibu regarding its electronic stability control. Fourteen months after Hopkins' accident, the company issued a second recall on the vehicle, this time for the power steering.
"In any product liability case, the key is: when did the manufacturer know something was wrong and what did they do about it," said 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson. "If GM knew about this defect years before they issued the recall that is very damning evidence, and very strong evidence, for Kristin."
"These defects pose a serious threat to the public that GM has done little about," Hopkins' attorney Kurt Zaner told 9NEWS in a statement. "We hope that this lawsuit convinces GM to finally put public safety first above corporate profits."
The lawsuit also said that because of Hopkins' extensive injuries, she has not been able to work since then.
"GM is learning the details of this tragic accident," said GM spokesperson Alan Adler. "We will investigate this matter and work to understand what happened and why."
Robinson said Hopkins' lawyers will need to prove the defects in the Malibu led to the crash and not other circumstances.
"If it was mere speeding, or poor driving, then the case has almost no value," Robinson said. "But if they can show the defect was the cause of the accident, then they have a very, very good case."
Hopkins' attorneys are asking for a jury trial. Robinson said that's common in civil cases, because juries can potentially be more sympathetic to people who are suing large organizations, like a car company.
(© 2015 KUSA)
