CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Jon Marko delivering his opening statement
Pontiac, MI - The third consecutive trial stemming from a collision between a prototype car and bystanders at a racing test track began last week in Michigan state court, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The trial comes on the heels of a previous jury awarding a record-breaking $896.5 million earlier this summer to a young child who visited the test track as part of a field trip for a STEM educational program. A subsequent jury awarded the child’s father, Vincent Gibson,just over $2 million for his bystander claim, and the current trial addresses damages for another child injured in the crash.
Defendant Continental Automotive Systems Inc. admitted liability for the children’s injuries, leaving the Oakland County jury tasked solely with determining an appropriate amount of damages to compensate for medical problems their attorney Jon Marko of Marko Law PLLC said would impact them for the rest of their lives.
CVN subscribers get unlimited on-demand access to the trial, including the two previous trials and hundreds more in CVN’s online video archive, the world’s only video collection of civil trials featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys in the country in a wide range of practice areas. It’s like Netflix for trial lawyers.
Marko explained during his opening statement how the 2023 accident resulted from the driver of a Mustang Dark Horse, a prototype car designed by Ford, intentionally spun the car out of control to impress the visiting children behind a rail immediately adjacent to the track. Eventually the driver failed to regain control after a spin, and the car slammed into the bystanders.
With liability for the accident not in dispute, Marko devoted the bulk of his opening statement to detailing the child’s traumatic brain injury, in addition to back and leg injuries. Marko focused largely on the brain injury, noting that besides physical effects like dizziness and headaches, that the injury caused cognitive and emotional changes that are more difficult to detect.
Marko previewed he would largely rely on testimony from treating physicians in the case, suggesting the defense would rest their case on paid experts who either only examined the plaintiff briefly or drew their conclusions solely from medical records and imaging scans. During jury selection he suggested the damages could exceed $100 million.
Defense attorney Jonathan Ebner of Clyde & Co. told jurors that Continental accepts responsibility for the accident, but he accused Marko of “overreaching.” He characterized Marko as a self-described aggressive plaintiff attorney seeking a large verdict that Ebner claimed doesn’t match up with the plaintiff’s actual injuries.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Jonathan Ebner delivering his opening statement
He suggested the plaintiff’s recovery was more substantial than initially described, and he maintained that many of the medical issues Marko identified came from doctors who have working relationships with plaintiff attorneys that only got involved after the case was filed.
Ebner urged the jury to settle on a fair amount of compensation, but he said that amount should be measured solely to compensate the plaintiff and not to punish Continental.
The trial is taking place before Judge David Cohen, and CVN's gavel-to-gavel coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
It is captioned Walker v. Continental Automotive Systems Inc., case number 2024-209675-NO.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
