Huge U.S. Jury Awards in 2014 May Foretell Trouble for Carmakers
Photographed in 2006, the wreck of a 2005 Cobalt that killed two and injured one.
Photographer: St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
Huge jury verdicts against companies over fatal flaws in their products made a comeback last year, which may foretell more bad news for carmakers with defective parts.
Absent for a decade, billion-dollar verdicts returned in product-defect suits in 2014. The largest was for $23.6 billion in favor of the family of a smoker who died at 36. Coming in second was one for $9 billion to a New Yorker who linked his bladder cancer to a diabetes medication.