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18/02/2018

Takata Airbag Bursts Can Lay Claim For Compensation To A Trust As A Resolution Is Reached In Court




Takata Airbag Bursts Can Lay Claim For Compensation To A Trust As A Resolution Is Reached In Court
A bankruptcy plan was approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in relation to the deaths due to explosion of the air safety bags in cars of Takata with the provision for creation of a trust for claims against personal injury and a channeling agreement that would allow for any future claims.
 
The agreement was helped out by Motley Rice LLC, one of the largest plaintiffs' law firms in the U.S. The law firm worked for the present and potential future personal injury and death victims because of the Takata air bags. It has bene alleged that the bursting of the airbags had led to death of at least 22 people and 180 injuries globally which resulted in the largest automobile recall in history.
 
"Our firm has seen firsthand too many horrific, life-changing injuries as a result of these defective Takata airbags and, tragically, families who have lost loved ones," said Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice. "Like dynamite in your car, these airbags should have never been installed in millions of vehicles. Once they were known to be deadly, they should have been more swiftly recalled, and the driving public notified. Sadly, that did not happen, so we are pleased that Judge Shannon has approved what we believe to be fair options for current and future victims of Takata airbags that provide swift resolution and allow victims to try to move on with their lives."
 
"The once profitable and financially sound Takata has suffered severe economic losses because of its defective airbags, filing for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection in June 2017. The proposed sale to Key Safety Systems left minimal compensation for victims killed or injured by Takata airbags. In an effort to protect current and future claimants, my firm found it in the best interest of these claimants to aggressively pursue efforts to fund a trust using Takata assets under the bankruptcy plan," said Rice. 
 
However, in case the victims feel that the claims have bene unfair for them, they have the option of making use of the tort system to file a separate litigation after opting out of the claim.
 
$90 million to $137 million would the approximate value of the trust. The amount in the trust can only increase but not get decreased. It would be around middle of 2018 that claims would begin to be accepted by the trust.
 
"Because the OEMs installed these defective airbags in their vehicles, they may also be legally responsible," said Rice. "To that end, we recommended a settlement with Honda through a Channeling Injunction to protect future claimants so they will not be burdened by Honda's available defenses. Honda has the most U.S. vehicles on the road, and there have been more than 200 reported injuries or deaths involving defective Takata airbags in Honda cars to date."
 
"Our goal is to protect current and future victims, and this settlement through a Channeling Injunction, which at this time only involves Honda, is the best option to do so," said Rice. "The settlement provides victims with security and assures future victims get similar values without concern about risks that can come to play, or excessive delays that can sometimes occur in the civil justice system and the appeals that often come after a trial verdict."
 
There can be no credits placed Takata, third parties or the victims Takata, third parties or the victims by Honda and the company will have to pay 100 percent of compensatory damages under the settlement.
 
(Source:www.prrnewswire.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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