DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler has asked a Georgia judge for a new trial a month after a jury awarded $150 million to the family of a 4-year-old Georgia boy killed in a crash and fire involving a Jeep.
The maker of Jeeps calls the $120 million awarded for the life of Remington Walden and $30 million for his pain and suffering “grossly excessive” and illegal under Georgia law. Fiat Chrysler also contends the amounts are far higher than the largest awards upheld on appeal in Georgia history.
Last month the jury in Decatur County ruled that Fiat Chrysler was 99 percent responsible for Walden’s death and that it acted with reckless disregard for human life in selling a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee to his family. Walden burned to death when the Jeep was hit from behind in March 2012. The Jeep’s plastic gas tank, mounted behind its rear axle, ruptured and leaked gasoline, causing a fire.
The company’s motion contends that the “astonishing” size of the jury award was improperly swayed by passion and prejudice and should be set aside.
Jim Butler, a Walden family attorney, called the the motion “nonsense.” He says Fiat Chrysler is after reduced damages, which he expects the judge to grant and the family to accept.
