On July 6, 2002, plaintiff’s decedent the Rev. R.A. West, 53, a minister and televangelist, was riding his new 2002 Ultra Classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle near his home in Varney. He veered off road and struck a rock wall of a mountain. The first person at the scene, who was also riding a motorcycle, was about one minute behind West. West was declared dead at the hospital. Cause of death was listed as traumatic arrest.In March 2004, Harley-Davidson announced a recall of the the 2002 Ultra Classic. Some of the bikes quit while riding, which could potentially be hazardous on a crowded roadway.West sued Harley-Davidson and the local dealership on a products liability theory, claiming design defect. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the bike’s circuit breaker tripped, which caused the accident. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the bike quit, forcing West to pull off the road so no one would hit him, and he was unable to stop before running into the rock wall of the mountain. Plaintiff’s accident reconstruction expert, Kenneth Obenski, gave testimony that supported this theory.
Defense counsel denied the allegations.
Defense counsel was allowed to perform certain tests on West’s motorcycle, and presented evidence that the circumstances didn’t exist for the circuit breaker to trip.
Defense counsel contended that if the circuit breaker tripped, it would not have caused the bike to run off the road and into a rock wall.
The defense accident reconstruction expert, Warner Riley, testified that West veered off the road and continued to ride for about six seconds with no apparent reaction, riding into a small ditch before striking the rock wall. Defense presented that six seconds was an exceptionally long time in which to have no reaction whatsoever. The intent was to present other possibilities than motorcycle defect as the reason Rev. West went off the road.
Defense counsel prestended medical testimony at trial from a physician who had examined West while he was alive. West suffered from morbid hypertension and he had target organ damage from uncontrolled hypertension. He had cardiomyopathy and some pulmonary hypertension. Defense counsel’s objective was to present the possibility that West had suffered some sort of medical episode that caused him to veer off the road and crash.
There was a partial autopsy. His family allowed only an autopsy of his lungs, because he was a plaintiff in an asbestos case against a railroad that had employed him 30 years prior.
Since there was no autopsy of the heart, defense counsel could not directly present the theory West had a heart attack while riding the bike that led to him going off the road. They presented testimony conditions existed that may have affected him.
West died shortly after crashing his motorcycle.
The jury found that the motorcycle was not defective and Harley-Davidson was not negligent. The case produced one of the first defense verdicts in a product liability jury trial in memory in Mingo County. “This was an unfortunate and tragic accident, but we are pleased that the jury understood the evidence and concluded, as we argued they should, that the motorcycle was not to blame,” said Robert Brand, Chief Product Counsel for Harley-Davidson. Defense verdicts in southern West Virginia are extremely rare. Also of note was the fact that three of the six jurors had attended services at West’s church prior to his death.