Faulty airbag case against Honda & Takata sent back to State Court for discovery & trial

Faulty airbag case against Honda & Takata sent back to State Court for discovery & trial

The personal injury case against Honda and Takata for defective airbags has been ordered to be sent back to the state court for discovery and trial. On June 15, 2014, plaintiff, Patricia Mincey, resident of Florida was driving her Honda Civic 2001 when she met with an accident. The passenger’s side airbag did not inflate properly while the driver’s side airbag inflated too forcefully, paralyzing Mincey from her neck down. See Patricia Mincey v. Honda Motor Company, Ltd., et. al., Case No. 2015CA000377 (Fla. Jan 21, 2015).[1]

Mincey sustained catastrophic injuries due to excessive airbag inflation causing her quadriplegia, pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life. She filed a lawsuit for jury trial claiming damages, costs and expenses incurred in lawsuit as well as in treatment, hospitalization, loss of earning and loss to earn for a living against Honda Motor Co., Takata Corporation, their subsidiaries. Duval Motors of Jacksonville LLC was also alleged to have been concealing the fact about the faulty airbags in the car when it was sent to them thrice for servicing as well as about the recall of cars already made and further planned by Honda in lieu of the same.

Mincey filed the lawsuit claiming compensatory damages in the Duval County Circuit Court which was fraudulently removed by Honda and Takata from state court to U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville, just a day before the trial date was to be set in the state court. The ulterior motive was to drag the lawsuit into multidistrict litigation (MDL) and delay it by maximum possible time, thereby making it difficult for the truth to be revealed. Mincey v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. et al., case number 3:15-cv-00847 (M.D. Fla. 2015).

But the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville judge Brian J. Davis’, order dated September 25, 2015, remanded the case back to the state court stating that the claim had enough to be tried upon and Honda had lacked in objective reasonable basis to provide for removal of the case from Duval County.

Mincey’s attorney, Theodore J. Leopold stated that since the case has been sent back to the state court, he is all set for the discovery of all the facts and the trial. He is also of the opinion that Honda and Takata’s concealment about other faulty airbags in their other cars and the statistics of deaths and injuries sustained due to such defective airbags will serve as a plus point for the plaintiff’s suit.