A lawsuit against the Rhino line of ATVs has been moved back to Texas. Victoria County residents Laurie and Drew Perry have sued Yamaha Motor Corporation USA alleging injuries suffered due to a defective design. The lawsuit was first filed in Texas in 2009. Yamaha then had the case moved to federal court in Kentucky, where they already have a pending multi-district case pertaining to their Rhino all-terrain vehicles. The case was sent back to the Texas court in December.
According to the lawsuit, in 2009, Perry was riding her 2008 Yamaha Rhino 700 ATV which she purchased at a Victoria Yamaha dealer, when it rolled over and seriously injured her left hand and body. She claims the rollover was due to negligence on the part of the company and that Yamaha knew that the Rhino was defectively designed, manufactured and marketed. The suit claims that the defendants had a duty to warn the ultimate user of the defective design.
Yamaha denied that defective design or manufacturing errors were responsible for Perry’s injuries. They claim that Laurie Perry was negligent in her operation of the vehicle. “At Yamaha, the safety of our customers is our company’s highest priority. Yamaha is saddened whenever anyone is injured in a Yamaha product-related accident, and we urge all our customers to follow the safety recommendations on our products and, as importantly, to always operate the products in a safe and responsible manner,” Van Holmes, public relations manager for Yamaha Motor Corporation’s ATV & SXS Department, said in an email. He also said that “Yamaha does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
If you, or someone that you know has been injured as a result of what might be a product defect, you may be entitled to receive compensation. Not all accidents are the fault of the manufacturer, however it is worth looking into, especially since the injured party will likely incur financial strain from hospital bills, therapy and possibly time missed from employment.
