Attorney John J. Uustal of Kelley/Uustal recently wrote an article for the Sun Sentinel entitled “ Some ‘Accidents’ are Avoidable.”
In the article, he talks about how accidents sometimes aren’t all that unexpected. He uses the example of the late actor Anton Yelchin’s accident involving his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Described online as a “freak accident,” Yelchin was found dead last month at his Studio City, CA home pinned between his car and a brick pillar. As it turns out, his car had been recalled two months before the accident over a malfunction that caused drivers to mistakenly leave their vehicles in neutral instead of park.
Mr. Uustal points out that freak accidents, by definition, are supposed to be so unusual that they are nearly impossible to replicate. If the automaker knew about this malfunction, and it happened frequently enough to warrant a recall, can we really say that this tragedy was unavoidable?
Mr. Uustal has handled numerous personal injury and wrongful death cases in Florida, including cases involving defective vehicles. Unfortunately, he has seen the consequences of automakers failing to issue recalls in a timely manner because they decide it is “too expensive.” Instead of initiating recalls as soon as a problem is identified, they often take a “wait and see” approach that puts drivers at serious risk. In doing so, they prioritize their bottom line over the safety of drivers. He hopes that one day this will change, but until then, we can only expect more of these types of “accidents” to continue to occur.
