Bronco, Suzuki verdicts blame manufacturers.

Two significant plaintiffs' verdicts were handed down recently in cases involving sport-utility vehicle rollovers.

In July, after an 11-week trial in Missouri state court in St. Louis, a jury awarded damages to a woman who was paralyzed when the Suzuki Samurai she was riding in rolled over. (Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Co., No. 902-08691 (Mo., St. Louis City Cir. Ct. July 7,1995).)

Katie Rodriguez, 30, was left a quadriplegic in February 1990 after the four-wheel-drive Samurai she was riding in overturned. Her attorneys, Bob Cheeley and Jim Butler of Atlanta, contended at trial that Suzuki knew the vehicle was prone to rolling over.

The Samurai is a Japanese import marketed in the United States by American Suzuki Motor Corp., a division of Suzuki Motor Co. of Japan. Cheeley said that some 200,000 Samurais remain on the road. The vehicle's low weight and high center of gravity, he said, make it unreasonably prone to rolling over.

Plaintiffs have filed 240 rollover suits against Suzuki in the United States, Cheeley said. Most have settled.

"The importance of the Samurai verdict is that it exposed publicly the company's internal documents on the vehicle. They showed that Suzuki itself was aware of the defective nature of the vehicle in 1985, three months prior to when the first Samurai was sold in the United States," Cheeley said.

"In the minutes of one company meeting," he added, "executives noted that it was imperative that whenever the vehicle was photographed in publicity shots all four wheels of the Samurai had to be on the ground. Clearly, they recognized that it had rollover problems."

Suzuki plans to appeal the ruling.

In late June, a state court jury in Houston awarded damages to the parents of a college student who was killed in a rollover accident involving another sport-utility vehicle, the Ford Bronco II. (Commack v. Ford Motor Co., No. 93-33808 (Tex., Harris County Dist. Ct. June 22, 1995).)

Jennifer Commack, 21, was a passenger in the back seat of a 1987 Bronco II when a tire blew out and the vehicle rolled over. She was thrown from the vehicle and was killed. The back seat of the vehicle was not equipped with scat belts.

The verdict marks the first time a jury has found the Bronco II defective, according to plaintiffs' lawyer Tab Turner, of Little Rock Arkansas. Turner said that more than 260 people have died in rollovers involving the Bronco II, which was manufactured by Ford Motor Co. between 1983 and 1990.

Turner said the jury found Ford completely responsible for the accident. Ford discovered that the Bronco II had a propensity to roll over during production tests, Turner added, but went ahead and marketed it anyway. Despite this knowledge, the company chose not to equip the vehicle's back scat with three safety belts, he said.

Tire manufacturer General Tire Co., another defendant, settled before trial, Turner said.

"The jury was convinced that the Bronco II is dangerous, that Ford knew it was dangerous, and that Ford consciously chose profit over safety," Turner added.

"This verdict, and the verdict in the Suzuki case, will hopefully have a positive impact on future rollover cases," Turner said, "because these juries recognized that both Ford and Suzuki had misled the consumer in marketing compact utility vehicles as safe passenger vehicles. These vehicles are not safe, and the public continues to be misled by the manufacturers."

Ford plans to appeal the verdict.