Washington Supreme Court reinstates $8M award against Hyundai in seat collapse case

Wash. court reinstates $8M award against Hyundai

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state Supreme Court has reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat.

In a 7-2 ruling Wednesday, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals in the case brought by Jesse Magana of Vancouver. He was left a paraplegic after the 1997 crash.

The justices say Hyundai deliberately withheld documentation from Magana’s lawyers concerning other crashes in which front seats collapsed backward.

Magana was wearing a seat belt in the front passenger seat of a rented 1996 Hyundai Accent, but he was thrown out the back of the hatchback after the force the air bag apparently broke the seat’s reclining mechanism.