Robert M.N. Palmer and William G. Petrus, The Law Offices of Robert M.N. Palmer, P.C. and Michael W. McDivitt, McDivitt Law Firm, P.C., for Plaintiffs. Robert B. Hunter, Wheeler, Trigg & Kennedy, P.C., for Defendant.

On November 28, 1995, decedent Carl Patterson was operating a 1994 Mazda Protégé equipped with a motorized passive shoulder harness/manual lap belt restraint system in El Paso County, Colorado when another vehicle ran a stop sign, causing a collision between the 1994 Mazda and the second vehicle resulting in the death of Carl Patterson. Sgt. Patterson was wearing the automatic shoulder belt but not the manual lap belt at the time of the accident.

Plaintiffs alleged that the restraint system in the 1994 Mazda Protege was defective and unreasonably dangerous in that it failed to have an integrated lap belt. This particular restraint system contains a motorized shoulder belt with a separately operated manual lap belt. Plaintiffs further claimed that the 1994 Mazda was defective in that it did not provide an adequate warning to Sgt. Patterson of the need to wear the manual lap belt.

Sgt. Carl Patterson was 31 years old at the time of his death and is survived by his wife, two sons and a stepson.
 

The plaintiffs were seeking recovery of economic losses in the amount of $1.2 million and non-economic losses to the extent allowed under Colorado law.
 

The case settled for a confidential amount February 17, 1999.