Michigan law protects employers from being sued for damages caused by an employee.
The family of the deceased can’t sue the dealer but can sue the vehicle owner, the vehicle owner’s insurance company can sue the dealer for the loss. This is a tactic to get around the law.
I think someone mentioned this already. Steve Lehto is a Michigan lawyer and his take on it. Same as what has been said so careful who you let drive your car at the dealer in MI.
Yes there’s one kind of lawsuit that the plaintiff will always lose. It’s when the defendant doesn’t have any money!
I got to thinking about this over the weekend and decided the above ideas must be the legal basis for this approach. In other words the complaint that the accident caused the employee’s death represents such an egregious problem that a claim of responsibility must be filed. And in this case – b/c of existing liability restrictions – must first go against the car owner and the manufacturer. This is necessary even though it is extremely unlikely either will be held responsible. But it provides a path to later make a claim against the shop owner or dealership. So there’s a certain logic in what otherwise seems an illogical claim.
Let me add something that hasn’t been mentioned yet. The vehicle is in the bay, sitting on the ground. The kid doesn’t know how to start a vehicle with a manual transmission.
Who told the kid to push down on the clutch pedal?
There were probably only two people in the bay.
I don’t believe that is true, that is basic knowledge. The attorney claims the lube tech doesn’t know how to operate a vehicle with a manual transmission, he may have been consoled to agree with the claim to shift the responsibility to the dealer. The tech might own a vehicle with a manual transmission, we don’t know.
BTW this accident occurred March 2020.
We used to be able to reach through the driver’s window to operate the ignition switch to start the engine but that is no longer possible. It is common practice during an oil change to open the driver’s door, apply the brake with your right foot and press the start button.
That shouldn’t be done with a manual transmission, the operator should be seated in the vehicle to be able to apply both the clutch and brake but people are careless, age does not matter.
I am aware of 3 run away manual transmission vehicles at my workplace over the years, each by technicians older than myself. One crashed into the shop compressor, one through a block wall in the parking lot and one into my toolbox on my day off. There have been many more crashes with automatic transmission vehicles at work, accidents happen, don’t stand in front of a vehicle while it being started.
I’ve only seen one runaway car in all my time at car dealers. A mechanic 2 stalls down from me leaned in a window to start a VW.
His mistakes. First he did not make sure the trans was in neutral, park brake set, and he assumed the clutch switch was operative (or didn’t think at all) before turning the key.
The car fired right up and rocketed into the work table in front of his stall; crushing the table and severely damaging the lift controls.
Luckily no one was hurt although he was scared out of his wits. I saw the car dart forward and both of his legs went airborne leaving him upside down with his head underneath the steering wheel…and screaming for me to save him.
I felt bad about laughing over it but he was of non-US origin and the way he pronounced my somewhat unusual name was just hilarious to me; especially when in a panic and screaming.