Date:         Wed, 27 Jun 2001 05:54:34 -0700
Reply-To:     '80 Westy Pokey <pokey@VANAGON.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         '80 Westy Pokey <pokey@VANAGON.ORG>
Subject:      VW Trends article on Vanagon Seatbelt Lawsuit
Content-Type: text/plain

A few weeks ago there were some posts going around about a rear seatbelt lawsuit that VW had just lost. It doesn't say anything about a replacement program but August's VW Trends has these details:

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VW HELD LIABLE FOR CAR CRASH

On April 25th a federal jury awarded $16 million to a Massachusetts family who lost a nine-year-old son in a 1991 accident. The Trull family blamed the death on the lack of shoulder belts in the middle seat of their 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon (which were standard equipment in the Vans in four countries, but not the U.S. Models).

The court initially placed the burden of proof on the Trulls and decided the case for Volkswagen, but after an appeal and a trial, the jury found for the Trulls late April.

Reached by AP Newswire, David Trull said: "All the money in the world doesn't replace the losses. If it was a matter of the money or having things the way they were, I'd much prefer to have things the way the way life was." On behalf of VW Trends, we extend our condolences to the Trull family for their loss.

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Thanks,
Chris Gronski
'80 Westy "Pokey" - SLOPOKEY
'87 Chevrolet Sprint - Ice Racer
'91 Pontiac Firefly - Convertable
www.vanagon.org & .ca
www.gronski.com, .org, & .ca
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