An Orange County jury has ordered Suzuki to pay more than $160 million to a Huntington Beach man who was seriously injured when the front brakes of his motorcycle failed to work as he attempted to avoid an SUV that stopped suddenly.
Jurors hearing the civil product liability case late last month decided that Thomas Joseph Soulliere should receive about $11 million to cover the past and future impact of the June 8, 2013 traffic accident in Cypress. But the bulk of the jury award — another $150 million — came in the form of punitive damages after Soulliere’s attorneys argued that Suzuki knew about the brake issues that caused the collision but held off on a recall until months after the crash.
“I think the message is clear: If you are putting products out on the market and you know that something is wrong you do something about it,” said Travis Davis, one of the attorneys who represented Soulliere. “Safety is more important than profit.”
Suzuki, based in Japan with U.S. headquarters in Brea, did not respond to requests for comment on the jury’s decision or if they plan to appeal.
The verdict marks the second time that a jury has found Suzuki liable for the collision.
In 2018, a different Orange County Superior Court jury ordered Suzuki to pay Soulliere $8 million, including roughly $6 million in punitive damages and $2 million in compensatory damages. But that verdict was overturned on appeal, leading to several years of legal wrangling and ultimately the second trial that resulted in the much larger verdict.
“It is an incredible verdict, it is a landmark verdict, but it is justified and it is in line with the purpose of punitive damages, which is to punish a corporation for wrongdoing,” Davis said.
At the time of the collision, Soulliere was a 28-year-old hair stylist who had helped his girlfriend open a hair salon on Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach and was working at the shop.
The day of the crash, Soulliere had dropped a present…
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