Car Crash Attorney Gets $1.5M Settlement for Family of Teen Killed in Crash
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on August 23rd, 2019
The family of a high school senior who was killed after her 2016 Nissan Versa automobile rolled over after being struck by another car has reached a $1.5 million settlement with the car company in connection with the girl’s death.
Ashlynn Overton, 18, a senior at North Augusta High School, was killed in July of 2017 in Aiken County, South Carolina, on Highway 25 north when another car veered into her lane and struck her car’s front bumper, causing it to roll over, according to an Aug. 6 story by The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper.
Overton, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was ejected from her Nissan Versa and was killed. Her car crash attorneys argued that the car was defective because it was designed and built without a sensor that should have deployed the vehicle’s side curtain safety airbags in a rollover crash. If the side curtain airbags had deployed when the car roiled over, they would have formed a barrier to cushion Overton in the crash and could have prevented the fatal head wounds that resulted in her death, the attorneys argued.
Her family filed a lawsuit against the Nissan Motor Co., alleging that the defective design of the Versa led to their daughter’s death. The $1.5 million settlement was announced in federal court in Columbia before U.S. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis.
Nissan has been sued in similar cases in recent years, the story reported, and has undergone recalls of millions of its vehicles for alleged faulty air bag and seat belt issues.
Overton was heading to a convenience store with a friend before a sleepover at the time of the crash. The victim’s grandmother had given the car to her as a gift.
Nissan in a statement said the car was not required to have a rollover airbag sensor and that the vehicle did not contribute to the victim’s death.
Legal cases like this one occur around the nation every day and are examples of similar kinds of car crash cases that MyPhillyLawyer attorneys regularly work on tirelessly for our own clients. Often, we are not able to discuss the cases we are actively working on due to confidentiality requirements, so we discuss other relevant cases in the news such as this one to illustrate the legal situations people find themselves in every day.
When you need a car accident injury attorney, we here at MyPhillyLawyer stand ready to assist you with your legal case if you or a loved one is ever seriously injured in any kind of vehicle crash, slip and fall, workplace injury or wrongful death in Philadelphia or anywhere in the United States. We pledge to make sure that you and your family get the compassionate, dogged and experienced legal representation that you deserve and expect from a professional legal team which works hard to uncover every fact to bolster your case and maximize your damage award.
We represent the families of victims who die in such tragedies as well, to ensure that their families receive every penny of damages that they are eligible to receive.
Talk to a Philadelphia car crash attorney at MyPhillyLawyer by calling 215-914-5471 or toll-free at 1-866-907-2231 anytime and our experienced, compassionate, aggressive team of attorneys and support staff will be there for you and your family every step of the way as we manage your case through the legal system.
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