KIA TOLD TO PAY MILLIONS IN DEATH

BYLINE: BILL DOUTHAT, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DATE: August 24, 2002

A jury Friday awarded $10 million to the parents of a 19-year-old college student killed in a rollover of her Kia Sportage sports utility vehicle, a car jurors said was negligently designed.

"It was a serious design failure in that car that failed to protect the occupant," jury foreman Bill Bradberry said after the verdict against Kia Motors Inc. The 1995 Kia Sportage flipped over six times after Angelique Cintron swerved when a car came into her lane as she was driving on Florida's Turnpike south of Orlando. Cintron, a student returning to her West Palm Beach home from Florida State University, was wearing a seat belt. She died of head injuries in the Nov. 7, 1997, crash.

Kia claimed during the two-week trial that Cintron died when her head struck the pavement, not from a lack of protection inside the car.

"This vehicle did everything that anyone could ask it to do to protect this individual," Kia's attorney Larry Roth told jurors in his final arguments Friday. Roth said any vehicle would have rolled over because of the speed it was traveling and the driver's "extreme" steering.

Kia suggested the car was speeding at up to 85 mph and that a "phantom" sports car cut her off. But Cintron's attorneys said a truck driver traveling 63 mph has testified that the Kia Sportage passed him slowly just before the crash, which would indicate she wasn't speeding. 

"The Sportage is safe and stable," Roth said. "Kia is here to protect its name, its product and its integrity."

Cintron's attorneys claimed several defects contributed to the fatality, including a collapsed roof, a windshield that popped out during the roll and an instability that caused the roll in the first place.

"They want to point the finger at everybody but themselves," said Ted Babbitt, attorney for the Cintrons.

Friday's verdict was the first major lawsuit involving a rollover crash against the South Korean automaker.

"We will appeal this verdict," said Kim Custer, public relations director for Kia Motors America, U.S. distributor for KIA. "We don't agree with it. We build a safe product."

After four hours of deliberations, the jury awarded $5 million each to Angel and Miriam Cintron of West Palm Beach for past and future pain and suffering over the loss of their daughter.

"I want you to know your daughter didn't do anything wrong," Bradberry said as he hugged Miriam Cintron outside the courtroom.

The mother said the verdict vindicates her daughter of allegations that speeding and her driving caused her death.

"She doesn't have a voice today, but the jury spoke for her," Cintron said.

"She was robbed of her future because this manufacturer failed to put a car on the market that is safe," she said.

Juror Carrie Manske said the Kia shouldn't have rolled over because of the driver's emergency maneuver.

"Whether it was a black phantom sports car or a rabbit in the road, it was a foreseeable emergency procedure and she died because the car rolled," Manske said.

Babbitt told jurors that the car was a "death sentence" for Angelique. They asked for $10 million in damages, the same amount awarded by the jury.

After the verdict, Babbitt said automakers are marketing SUVs as a substitute for station wagons, knowing they are not as stable at high speeds or during evasive moves.

"I think it sends a message to the auto industry, and especially to Kia, that they are selling dangerous cars to young people pretending them to be safe," he said.

Jurors found Kia 100 percent liable for the accident and that neither Anqelique Cintron nor the black sports car that caused her to swerve were responsible for the death. The driver of the black sports car didn't stop after the crash and was never identified.

Kia blamed the "road rage" of the sports car driver, Cintron's speed and her evasive steering as causes of the crash.

"Because of the severity of the accident, it wouldn't have mattered what vehicle Miss Cintron was in," Roth said.

- bill_douthat@pbpost.com

Kia Sportage SUV

Number of Kia Sportages on the road: 500,000.

Manufacturer: Kia Motors Inc., Seoul, South Korea.

Introduced into the U.S.: 1995.

Company history: Founded in 1944 as a manufacturer of steel tubing and bicycle parts. More than 2 million Kia vehicles are on the road in more than 160 countries.

- From Kia Web site and court documents

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