Jim Campbell, Trevor Keenan, Jacob Lantry, and Sarah Chasse obtained a defense verdict on behalf of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. after a 7-day trial in Vermont federal court in July of 2024. The suit was brought on behalf of the estate of a woman who was killed after the front left corner and driver’s door of her 2013 Honda Accord were struck by a driver who was under the influence of various narcotics and crossed the center line of a two-lane highway to cause the accident. The plaintiff alleged that the 2013 Accord was defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous because it lacked adequate structures to deflect and absorb the impaired driver’s vehicle and prevent the decedent from sustaining fatal injuries. Accident reconstruction, materials science, and biomechanic experts, as well as the chief engineer for frontal collision safety from Japan, were presented at trial to describe the unique angle and forces of the accident, the mechanism of the decedent’s injuries, and the reasonable design and performance of the vehicle in this accident and the vast battery of testing it underwent.

Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury in closing argument to award nearly $10 million in damages. After a brief deliberation, the jury returned a defense verdict affirming that the 2013 Honda Accord was not defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous and that Honda was not negligent in its design of the vehicle.