Law Firms Seek Plaintiffs to Sue Yamaha

- The State Records, WV

04/03/2008 - For many ATV enthusiasts, the Yamaha Rhino may be the ideal vehicle.

After all, it has two seats, a full bed for cargo on the back, a roll bar on top and is about the same width as normal ATVs.

"They are a little wider and a little longer that regular ATVs, but off-road they are just as capable as regular ATVs," said Jeff Devol, whose Devol Cycle Center in Parkersburg sells Rhinos and other Yamaha and Honda vehicles. "All of my customers who've gotten them seem to be pleased."

But the design of the Rhino may be leading it into the courtroom instead of into the great outdoors.

Lawyers from across the country are advertising in West Virginia in search of people who were injured or have loved ones who were injured when the vehicles tipped over. Ads seemingly pop up on TV at all times of day and on various channels encouraging people to call their firm toll free to report the injuries.

While no lawsuits appear to have been filed yet in West Virginia, law firms and legal groups say they may be coming.

Attorney Troy Giatras of The Giatras Law Firm in Charleston said his firm is investigating one roll over case from Wayne County.

In that case, Giatras said, the vehicle's driver was trying to turn it around in a grassy, level area near a private drive when it tipped over.

The vehicle fell on a passenger whose leg was injured. Giatras said an accident report said local emergency rescue personnel had to move the vehicle off the passenger.

"Initially we saw this case as an accident case -- that the driver caused it to flip over," said Giatras, whose firm is representing the passenger. "But upon closer look ... it may be a product liability case instead of an accident case."

He said as more information comes out about the Rhino, he said more people who have been injured on the vehicle may come forward to inquire about pursuing some legal action.

But he said each inquiry will have to be looked at closely and evaluated to see if it is a suitable claim.

"You can't just lump everything together," Giatras said.

Giatras is not alone.

Several large, national firms are also investigating possible Rhino lawsuits in the Mountain State.

"There are five or six cases we are looking at in West Virginia, three of which we are investigating closely," said Jason Shamblin, a shareholder/partner with Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris, a national firm based in Birmingham that already has filed other Rhino-related lawsuits in Alabama, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and Nova Scotia, Canada, as well as several other states.

Most of the Cory Watson cases, as well as lawsuits filed by other law firms, allege that Rhino models from 2004 through 2007 have a design flaw that puts the vehicle at risk of rolling on its side while making turns. And according to various law firm Web sites, the vehicles can flip even when traveling at low speeds and on level terrain.

And the injuries riders can sustain can be severe. Legs can be broken or crushed. Skin can be peeled off. Legs and arms have been so badly injured that they've had to be amputated. People have been killed.

"Most people who had an accident were being responsible owners. The vehicles were being used as they were intended to be used, which is as a utility vehicle on a farm or out in the woods. Often they were near their home," said Annesley DeGaris, a senior shareholder/partner at Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris.

Shamblin and DeGaris said the lawsuits that have already been filed cite Yamaha Motors, Yamaha's manufacturing plant in Georgia and individual dealerships as liable for the injuries.

DeGaris said it is not uncommon for Yamaha dealerships to be named as defendants in lawsuits because "dealers have an opportunity to warn of potential injuries."

Shamblin said that in the dozens of potential lawsuits the firm is investigating right now, no dealer gave any extra warning to customers. He and DeGaris said the most Yamaha has done is send out a notice to Rhino owners letting them know they can get free doors and emergency hand-holds installed in their vehicles at dealerships. Yamaha changed the design of the 2008 version of the vehicle, the lawyers said, by installing the doors and hand-holds at the factory and adding a sticker on the vehicle warning of its roll-over risk.

"They give you a new sticker. That won't do," DeGaris said.

A message was left for a spokesman at Yamaha Motors California office. However, the person answering his phone said he was out of the office this week.

Devol said many owners of Rhinos have contacted his Parkersburg dealership in recent months to have the doors and hand-holds installed.

"We retrofitted 100 or more of them," he said.

He said the vehicles have sold well at his dealership, and he hasn't heard of anyone getting hurt on them. He also hasn't heard of anyone suing his dealership over the vehicle.

"I'm perplexed that someone would be soliciting personal injury cases in this way," he said. "I mean, I've seen the ads, and I'm perplexed."

If and when the West Virginia lawsuits are filed, they won't be included in a larger class-action suit. Because of a change in national law, personal injury lawsuits cannot be lumped together as a class-action lawsuit. So chances are fairly good that if numerous individual lawsuits are filed against Yamaha or its subsidiaries, they may be pooled together as multidistrict litigation.

DeGaris said his law firm got involved in the Rhino suits after a family friend of one of the firm's shareholders was injured on the vehicle. The lawsuit claims the vehicle tipped on its side, trapping his leg and shearing off tissue down to the muscle. Despite numerous reconstructive surgeries, DeGaris said the man may still lose his leg.

"We started looking into the Rhino and realized his accident was not an isolated occurrence," DeGaris said. "The cases we found were just the tip of the iceberg."

Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Tort Reform Association, said he is dismayed by the approach law firms from all over the country are taking to find clients to sue Yamaha.

"The trial lawyers with their rapid-fire cable ads are inviting America to take less responsibility," he said.

And those tactics, he said, detract from lawsuits that have merit, those in which people were legitimately injured and are suing to be made whole again. He also chided the law firms for considering suing Yamaha dealers.

"Rather than suing Yamaha specifically, they are going to sue everyone they can, including innocent dealers who don't know anything about the design of the vehicle and have no say in how they are made. They are just trying to rope in as many defendants as they possibly can," McKinney said.

If you or a loved one have experienced a Rollover you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the Yamaha Rhino Rollover attorneys of Ennis & Ennis today for a free confidential case evaluation. Our on staff nurse and lawyers are standing by to answer any questions you may have regarding the Yamaha Rhino, a possible Rollover class action lawsuit, or any other type of Yamaha Rhino Rollover litigation.