Charla Aldous: Jury awards $37.6 million to Dallas woman who sued Honda over seat belt design after crash
A Dallas County jury awarded $37.6 million to a woman who was paralyzed in a crash while taking an Uber ride in November 2015.
Sarah Milburn, 27, sued Honda in late 2016 after the crash in Uptown Dallas. Her attorneys argued that a poorly designed seat-belt system in the Honda Odyssey she was riding in led to her injuries.
Milburn was riding in the third-row middle seat when the Uber driver ran a red light and the van was hit by a pickup truck.
The crash left Milburn a quadriplegic, and she has limited use of her arms and hands.
The seat belt in question had a two-part system where the passenger had to pull a detachable shoulder strap down from the ceiling, then anchor it to the seat and pull it over their hips to buckle it.
An expert showed the jury during a trial that fewer than 10 percent of people unfamiliar with the type of seat belt were able to use it properly, Milburn's attorneys said.
"Sarah put the seat belt on the same way 50 out of 53 people in our studies did and wearing it that way was actually more dangerous than having no seat belt at all," attorney Charla Aldous said in a statement.
The jury also found that regulations governing seat belts didn't do enough to protect the public from harm, according court documents filed Wednesday. The family hopes the finding could lead to a law that would prevent other car manufacturers from using that seat belt design, according to a news release.
The 2015 crash left Milburn seriously injured: her spinal column was broken, and she developed pneumonia in the following days.
She eventually was able to move into a rehabilitation hospital and then into her parents' home. Her parents "commit all of their resources and lives to trying to help their daughter," the lawsuit said.
"I'm thankful every day I'm alive because it could be a lot worse," she previously told The Dallas Morning News."There's always someone that's worse."
The Dallas Morning News, by Dana Branham
