Attorneys for a man whose leg was smashed up in a motorcycle accident a decade ago in Cypress said Friday they hope the $161 million verdict he won against Suzuki Motor Corporation will prod the company to fix a brake defect in one of its models.
Joey Soulliere, 37, won $11,005,000 in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages April 25 following a five-week trial in Orange County Superior Court in Fullerton.
Soulliere won a verdict in 2018 of $1,959,000 before the same judge in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages, but Suzuki appealed. In that trial, Suzuki was found responsible by 52% and the remaining liability was assigned to a driver involved in the crash that injured Soulliere. In the most recent verdict, however, Suzuki was found fully liable.
When Suzuki won on appeal, Soulliere had to pay $112,000 in legal fees to the company.
Soulliere bought a used 2009 Suzuki GSX-R600 May 28, 2013.
He was riding the motorcycle on June 8, 2013, in Cypress when a Chevrolet Suburban pulled out of a shopping center parking lot and then stopped, the attorneys said. Soulliere, who was going about 25 to 30 mph, attempted to brake but it wasn’t working and when he realized he couldn’t stop in time he locked up the rear brake and laid the bike down.
Soulliere suffered broken bones in his right leg and left ankle.
Suzuki recalled the motorcycles on Oct. 18, 2013, due to a design defect that led to sludge building up in the master cylinder and hydrogen gas in the brake fluid, which couldn’t be purged from the system.
Suzuki argued that there was no evidence of a defect in Soulliere’s motorcycle and that he had the accident because he applied the brake too much. The company’s attorneys also argued the driver of the Suburban was at fault for the collision and the company could not be blamed for what happened.
Soulliere’s attorneys previously tried to settle the case in 2018 for $6.9 million and after the case was sent back for another trial in 2021 for $1.9 million. Suzuki offered $150,000 a week and a half before the end of the trial this year.
“I warned Suzuki, be careful what you wish for,” after the company appealed the first verdict, Soulliere’s attorney, Gabe Houston told City News Service.
“I was discontented with it, honestly, because I knew the punitive damages would not make Suzuki do anything about” the brake defect, Houston said of the first verdict.
Houston said the company, “Still haven’t fixed it after the recall… The problem still exists today.”
Suzuki Motor’s attorneys did not immediately respond to messages.
Houston explained that punitive damages are awarded in civil trials in part to deter future actions.
“Punitive damages are about deterrence, and that’s where the change gets made, and, ultimately, I want Suzuki to be ambassadors for safety,” Houston said.
Another attorney on Soulliere’s legal team, Robbie Munoz, said his client is “doing pretty well, but that’s only because of his obsession with his recovery. He’s been able to regain a lot of function out of his right leg by putting in a whole lot of work into his recovery. He was told originally he would never be able to walk again.”
Soulliere has a “slight limp” because he cannot bend his knee fully, Munoz said.
Soulliere managed to find a surgeon willing to take a chance on fixing his knee and, “To Joey’s credit he ran with it and obsessively committed himself to his recovery.”