A new Savannah law firm recently secured a $3.4 million verdict against Germany-based automaker DaimlerChrysler.

A federal jury in Atlanta ordered DaimlerChrysler to pay for failing to warn that children could shift its minivans out of park, causing them to roll, and for failing to warn that its minivans did not have a brake shift interlock, which prevents vehicles from being shifted out of park without depressing the brake pedal.

The verdict was for the family of Madison Hamby, a 2-year-old girl who on July 27, 2002, was killed when she inadvertently pulled the gearshift lever out of park on her mother’s 1991 Dodge Caravan. The minivan rolled 120 feet. Hamby was ejected and run over.

Prior to the incident, Hamby was playing in the parked minivan, which was being washed by her mother’s fiancé. The fiancé attempted to stop the rolling vehicle by jumping in it but was knocked to the ground by the driver’s door of the rolling vehicle.

The family of Madison Hamby was represented by Jeff Harris and Darren Penn of the law firm of Harris Penn & Lowry, which opened in January. Rebecca Franklin of Scherffius, Ballard, Still & Ayres in Savannah assisted on the case.

The attorneys pursued two claims: wrongful death and a pain and suffering claim. The jury originally awarded the family $4.5 million split evenly between the two claims. But because of the Georgia law of comparative negligence, which allows juries to impart partial blame on the plaintiff’s, the award was reduced to $3.4 million. The jury found that Hamby was 49 percent to blame. Anything over 50 percent would have forfeited the family’s right to any claim in the wrongful death suit.

During the trial, the family’s attorneys argued that DaimlerChrysler knew for years of this hazard and failed to do anything. The attorneys further argued that DaimlerChrysler refused to accept any fault whatsoever for its inaction regarding the hazard.

“I am thankful that the Hamby family was able to pursue their case in court and hold this company accountable for its actions, which caused the death of a beautiful little girl,” Penn said.

Evidence in the case showed that, before 2001, when DaimlerChrysler implemented the brake shift interlock in its minivans, DaimlerChrysler knew of hundreds of child-shifting incidents causing injuries and death to parents and children in vehicles that lacked the brake shift interlock.

When DaimlerChrysler implemented the brake shift interlock in 2001, the number of incidents of child shifting in Chrysler vehicles was reduced to zero. All other major auto manufacturers installed the brake shift interlock in their vehicles by 1995.

The jury found that DaimlerChrysler knew of the dangers of children shifting their vehicles out of park, especially its minivans, causing injury and death, but nevertheless failed to warn the public or do anything at all to ensure the safety of its consumers.

Also, the evidence showed that when DaimlerChrysler had comparable numbers of customer complaints, lawsuits and deaths caused by the lack of a brake shift interlock in its Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee vehicles, the company voluntarily recalled and retrofit those vehicles with a brake shift interlock and pursued an aggressive media and warning campaign regarding the Cherokee recall and retrofit.

When faced with similar complaints, deaths and lawsuits regarding the DaimlerChrysler minivans, which were marketed for families with children, the plaintiff contended DaimlerChrysler did not do anything.

This was the first such case to go to trial, Penn said. Others had been settled. He thinks DaimlerChrysler moved forward with the trial because of recent successes with claims about other vehicles. Penn thinks this decision could have an effect on a couple of other pending trials. He said his firm isn’t actively working on any other similar cases but is looking into a few.

Although the firm’s attorneys have worked on multi-million dollar lawsuits before, this is the largest verdict so far for the newly opened law firm. Penn said it could lead to more case referrals.

“You hope that people will see what you’re doing and like it,” Penn said. “The better results you have inevitably leads to more business.”