Quadriplegic Auto Crash Victim to Get $6.5 Million
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A high school girl whose hopes for college basketball stardom ended abruptly in a 1979 car wreck that left her a quadriplegic was awarded $6.5 million in damages today by a jury which blamed the car maker for the accident.
“I am ready to start my life now--before this was over with I felt like I couldn’t,” said Marchell Leekins, now 23, after jurors returned their verdict to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge Jr.
The award, representing $6.2 million for Leekins and $300,000 for her parents, was against American Honda Motor Co., based in Gardena.
Leekins, who lives in Santa Maria with her parents, was a passenger in the rear seat of a 1978 Honda Civic carrying five Cabrillo High School basketball players home from a Memorial Day pickup game when the car swerved suddenly and rolled over, killing the driver.
Attorney Gary Paul, who represented Leekins, successfully argued that the car’s standard 12-inch tires cause that model, when carrying a full load, to go out of control in a quick emergency move.
The defense tried to show that the driver of the car had been drinking and that the vehicle was traveling at excessive speed.
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