Bucks woman (represented by Larry Coben) wins $10M Verdict

By SARAH LARSON
Bucks County Courier Times

A Palisades graduate who was paralyzed in a 2004 car crash has won a $10.2 million verdict against the car maker, a local utility and the driver of the car.

Chelsea Pursell won the lawsuit with a judgment against Volkswagen, the PPL utility company and driver Kristofer Young after a jury trial wrapped up in Bucks County court last week.

It is believed to be one of the largest jury awards ever in Bucks.

"It's got to be one of the top five that I've ever heard of, and I've been practicing for 25 years," said Doylestown attorney Peter Hileman, one of Pursell's lawyers. He successfully argued that the lap-style seat belt the girl was wearing at the time of the crash fractured her spine and caused severe internal injuries, leaving her paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair. A lap-style seat belt does not have a shoulder strap.

In all likelihood, though, it will be years before Pursell, who will be 20 next month, will see any of the money.

"Volkswagen will appeal, so it could be years before it's all resolved," Hileman said. "So just because you get a verdict doesn't mean you get paid. But when she does, hopefully this will be enough to take care of her for the rest of her life."

David Richman, an attorney who represented Volkswagen in the case, confirmed the company plans to appeal the verdict. He declined further comment.

On Thursday, Pursell said she was pleased with the verdict but disappointed that the legal battle will continue.

"Whether I see a penny of that or not, seeing justice was pretty beautiful," she said, adding, "I was looking for some kind of closure. I really wanted this to be the end of things."

Pursell was 16 and a sophomore at Palisades High School when she was in a car crash on May 28, 2004.

She was with her boyfriend, her friend and her friend's boyfriend, and Kristofer Young, Hileman said. Young, who was then 18 and lived in Easton, was driving.

It was about 11:20 p.m. on a Friday night, and the five young people were driving south down Lehigh Street in Allentown, according to the police report from the incident. Young apparently lost control of the 1992 Volkswagen Jetta after it hit the curb on the right-hand side of the street. The car jumped the curb and hit a utility pole near the street, the report says.

Young apparently was thrown from the car; an off-duty officer found him in the street with blood on his face, according to the police report. The male front seat passenger was unconscious and trapped in the car, the officer wrote. A boy and two girls were in the backseat. The doors were all jammed, and the officer couldn't get into the car to help the young people out, the report says.

When the car hit the pole, Chelsea was in the middle back seat, wearing the lap-style seat belt no longer included in vehicles because of accidents like Chelsea's.

Everyone in the car was hurt, including Chelsea's two friends, who were sitting on either side of her in the backseat. But none were injured as severely as Chelsea, and none were left permanently disabled, as she was -because, Hileman successfully argued in court, none were wearing only a lap seat belt.

"She was the only one in the backseat wearing a seat belt. She was the only one who was permanently injured," Hileman said. "She was wearing her seat belt, doing what she thought was smart and safe, and it was the seat belt that caused her injury."

Chelsea's lap belt rode up from her pelvis to her abdomen as the force of the crash caused a "submarining" effect that pulled her down into the seat, Hileman said. The belt tore into her abdomen, ripping into her intestines, fracturing her spinal cord and causing other internal injuries.

Hileman and fellow attorney Jeff Drake researched auto liability and found an Arizona lawyer, Larry Coben, who is an expert on vehicle crashworthiness. Coben helped prove that the lap belt caused Chelsea's devastating internal injuries.

"The thing about the rear seat belt is the engineers figure not many people sit in the middle. It's not used that much, so they didn't care that much about it," Hileman said.

Since Sept. 1, 2007, all new cars sold in the United States must have a combination lap and shoulder belt in all back seat positions, including the middle seat, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Volkswagen brought PPL into the case when the company alleged, and the jury agreed, that PPL's utility pole had been placed too close to the road. If it had been in the right spot, the accident could have been avoided, Volkswagen argued.

Hileman said the jury assigned 51 percent of the liability for the crash to Young, 39 percent to Volkswagen and 10 percent to PPL.

Chelsea's attorneys already had settled with PPL, so the utility cannot be held to pay that $1 million share of the verdict, Hileman said. He declined to name the amount of the prior settlement but said "it was much less than $1 million."

Ryan Hill, a spokesman for the Allentown-based PPL, said, "We know this has been a difficult time for Chelsea and the Pursell family."

Young's attorney, Gary Greminger, declined to comment. The Philadelphia attorney was hired for this case by Young's car insurance company.

Young pleaded guilty in November 2004 to driving under the influence and a felony charge of DUI-related aggravated assault by motor vehicle, court records show. He served about a year in Lehigh County Prison. He also was ordered to pay $1,000 a year for four years to a fund for Chelsea's care.

Chelsea was in and out of the hospital - but mostly in - for two years after the crash and endured numerous surgeries. Her medical care to date has cost about $5 million, Hileman said. Future costs are estimated at $2 million.

Most of her care was covered by health insurance, but the two insurance companies have liens in place to try to recover some of the costs, Hileman said.

Chelsea's last two years of high school were focused not on class work but on trying to survive, Hileman said.

"She had been a good student, but she basically was just coping with her injuries through the last two years of high school," he said. "They worked with her, and she went to graduation, and it was a miracle."

Today, Chelsea lives pretty independently at home with her parents near Ottsville.

A video was shown in court depicting a day in her life, Hileman said - how she gets up, is able to shower and get dressed and get into her wheelchair, how she goes out to the garage and pulls her wheelchair into the car and drives off to classes at Bucks County Community College.

As for her future plans, Pursell said she is still exploring her liberal arts education and hasn't decided on a college major. She likes to write and to travel.

"I'd like to have a great job," she said, "maybe something that combines those."