Eiko Meyer was being driven home by her husband in their 1994 Mazda Protégé after performing a concert at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. The Mazda was equipped with a motorized passive two-point shoulder belt and separate manual lap belt. Ms. Meyer did not have on her manual lap belt when her husband drifted off to the right and hit a telephone pole going approximately 15 mph. Even though her husband was uninjured, Ms. Meyer received a spinal cord injury that rendered her a paraplegic.
Plaintiff sued Mazda for the design of the seat belt system and claimed that the shoulder belt without the lap belt being fastened was unreasonably dangerous to occupants. Plaintiffs produced evidence at trial that the automotive industry was well aware of the danger of this particular design of seat belt and that the warning regarding the need to wear the lap belt did not meet ANSI Standards. After a two week trial, the jury returned a verdict in the amount of $3,000,000 plus $500,000 in prejudgment interest. At the time of the judgment, it was the largest verdict in a personal injury case in St. Louis County, Missouri history. The case was tried by Robert M.N. Palmer.
