Faced with an unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles and rivals swooping in on its customers, the public relations machine at Toyota Motor Corp — one of the most savvy brand-creators in Asia — is floundering. Toyota has consistently played down recurring complaints of unintended acceleration, breaking what PR experts…
Palo Alto has agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to the victim of a 2006 vehicle crash involving a city worker who was using his cell phone while driving. Silvio Obregon had asked the city for more than $5 million after the rear-end crash on Oregon Expressway left him with…
Already on the hook for the lion’s share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed. The agreement…
A Santa Rosa winery has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a Sebastopol man who was permanently disabled in an alcohol-related car crash in 2006. Paradise Ridge Winery was sued by Joshua Apodaca, the passenger in a car driven by a 19-year-old classmate, Sean Bradley,…
The city has agreed to pay $300,000 to a man who was critically injured in July 2008 after being shocked with a Taser by Columbia police. As part of a settlement agreement finalized last month, the city will pay $233,544.63 to Phillip Lee McDuffy and $66,455.37 to the Family Support…
A Lee County jury awarded $44.9 million to a Cape Coral man who was paralyzed in a 2006 motor vehicle accident. The verdict, one of the largest in the county’s history, was awarded to Gerald Aloia. Aloia was riding on his motorcycle on Oct. 22, 2006, when he was struck…
A 33-year-old man who suffered brain and spinal injuries in July when a heavy limb fell from a tree in Central Park and struck him has sued the city and the Central Park Conservancy for negligence. The man, Mr. Goldensohn, a computer scientist who works for Google, remains hospitalized from…
The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over. The justices rejected Ford Motor Co.’s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not…
The state Supreme Court reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat in a 1997 crash that left a man paralyzed. In a 7-2 ruling, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned a…
A Phillipsburg man was awarded nearly $6 million for injuries suffered when a large tree limb dropped onto their car in 2006. Kenneth Matlock is permanently disabled and can no longer work as a truck driver, his career for more than 20 years. On July 4, 2006 Matlock, his wife…