Judges reduces punitive damages for DaimlerChrysler in lawsuit

Circuit Court Judge Hamilton Gayden said in a ruling issued Monday that the original award in a lawsuit over the death of an 8-month-old boy in a June 2001 minivan accident was excessive when compared with the other damages, $5 million for wrongful death and $2.5 million for the emotional distress suffered by the child’s mother.

Joshua Flax died of head injuries after a pickup truck rear-ended his grandparents’ 1998 Dodge Caravan. The baby was riding in the back seat, and his skull was fractured when the front passenger seat collapsed on impact and the person in it struck him.

The lawsuit filed by his parents, Rachel Sparkman and Jeremy Flax, and grandparents, Jim and Sandra Sparkman, claimed that DaimlerChrysler knew the seats in its vans were prone to collapse during rear-impact accidents.

The jury decided in November that the carmaker was 50 percent responsible for the infant’s injuries.

The judge ruled that DaimlerChrysler had acted recklessly by ignoring evidence that some collisions could cause its front seats to collapse into the back seat where an infant might be riding in a car seat.