Doupnik

Defendant General Motors Corporation (General Motors) challenges a jury verdict which found that a defect in the welds of a roof pillar of a car it manufactured was a legal cause of its collapse in an accident, rendering plaintiff Gary Doupnik a quadriplegic (causing thereby a loss of consortium to his wife, plaintiff Sally Doupnik).

The accident occurred when Gary Doupnik, while intoxicated, lost control of his Oldsmobile; it left the road and plunged down a rocky embankment and overturned, coming to rest on its roof. The driver’s side of the roof collapsed from the forces imposed on the defective welds, forcing Doupnik’s head backward over the top of the seat, tearing ligaments in his neck, releasing vertebrae which allowed them to crush his spinal cord, resulting in quadriplegia.

The jury was directed that Doupnik was negligent and that his negligence was a legal cause of the accident and his injury. On the remaining issues the jury returned special verdicts. It found General Motors liable for the injury and that Gary Doupnik suffered damages in the sum of $6,668,212. It apportioned 80 percent of the fault to him. It found plaintiff Sally Doupnik’s damages for loss…