Mobile County, Ala., jury rules in favor of young girl permanently blinded in left eye by a defective Nissan airbag.
Montgomery, Ala. (June 15, 2023) – A Mobile County, Ala., jury awarded an $8.5 million verdict after Beasley Allen lawyers Evan Allen, Kendall Dunson, and Mike Andrews successfully argued that defendants Nissan North America, Inc. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, were responsible for Alise Henderson-Brundidge being permanently blinded in the left eye from the defective airbag the automaker used in the vehicle in which Henderson-Brundidge was riding at the time of a crash. Britt Bethea of Greene & Phillips, LLC in Mobile, Alabama, also represented Henderson-Brundidge.
“Our client’s life completely changed when a product – the airbag – that was supposed to protect her permanently blinded her,” said Allen, based out of Beasley Allen’s Mobile, Ala., office. “Nissan knew the airbag used in the vehicle our client was riding in would not protect her but, in fact, increased the risk of death or injury – such that Ms. Henderson-Brundidge experienced. Her life will never be the same. She is forced to adapt to a new normal all because of the defendants’ negligence and disregard for her safety.”
In October 2018, Henderson-Brundidge was a passenger in a 1998 Infiniti QX4 on McVay Drive in Mobile County, Alabama. Suddenly, defendant Cassie Sowa’s 2015 Ford Fusion crossed into the lane of Henderson-Brundidge’s travel, colliding with the QZ4 at 10 mph. The QX4’s passenger’s side airbag deployed with excessive force, striking and permanently blinding Henderson-Brundidge’s left eye.
The plaintiffs alleged that Nissan was negligent in designing, testing and manufacturing the QX4 and that the automaker knew or should have known that the defective airbag increased the safety risk to the vehicle’s occupants. The plaintiffs further alleged Nissan’s liability under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer’s Liability Doctrine because reasonable alternative airbag designs existed that would have prevented such an injury that Henderson-Brundidge experienced.
The case, Rodrigues v. Sowa, et al., was filed in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama, case number 02-CV-202-901869.00.
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