The lawyers completed their closing arguments today in a trial where a woman who suffered a serious brain injury in a motorcycle accident two years ago is suing Harley-Davidson and its Sacramento dealer.
Judy Wilson, 50, of Lincoln, charged in her suit that a salesman at Harley-Davidson of Sacramento negligently led her and her estranged husband to believe that the 2008 Road Glide cruiser they bought in 2008 had an anti-locking brake system when it did not.
Wilson, joined in the suit by the estranged husband, Jack Wilson, also says the manufacturer defectively designed the motorcycle by putting an icon on the tachometer that suggests it has the ABS brakes. Jack Wilson testified he applied the rear brake on the motorcycle thinking it had an ABS system when traffic backed up on him on the freeway. The brakes then locked up and sent the bike into a slide, throwing his wife to the pavement.
Plaintiffs attorney Bill Veen of San Francisco did not specifically ask the Sacramento Superior Court jury for an amount on the damages. Veen did say his client so far sustained $2.6 million in economic damages. He then drew up a pie chart for the jury that suggested the figure accounted for approximately 10 percent of the damages she has suffered since the April 11, 2009, wreck on northbound Highway 99 near Mack Road.
Jim Rushford, a local lawyer who is representing Harley-Davidson of Sacramento, and Gary Wolensky, the Newport Beach attorney for the manufacturer, said their clients were not responsible for the wreck.
They both put the blame on Jack Wilson, the estranged husband, saying he did not properly learn how to operate the motorcycle. Rushford denied anybody at the dealership told the Wilsons the motorcycle had an anti-lock braking system. Wolensky told the jury it is common practice for manufacturers to include the ABS icon for all of its bikes even if they don't have the system because it is more costly and complicated to use different parts when they make the different bikes. He said there has never been another claim or lawsuit against Harley-Davidson or any other manufacturer about a defective design over the icon.
Judge Alan G. Perkins sent the jury out around 2:30 p.m. today to begin deliberations in the trial that has been going on since early November.
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