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Feds Ignore Roof Crush Conference

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 16, 2007

Titled "Emergency World Summit on Roof Crush," the conference is sponsored by a 54-year-old mother of seven who has helped lawyers win tens of millions of dollars in damage awards for victims of rollover crashes despite having no formal training in law, engineering or vehicle safety.

She is Paula Lawlor, a California activist with a knack for finding witnesses and digging up documents that incriminated automakers. Lawlor has been involved in high-profile roll over cases since 1998.

She helped one 28-year-old California man who had become became a paraplegic when the 1975 Ford F-150 in which he was a passenger rolled after a collision. He sued Ford Motor Co. and ultimately was awarded more than $12 million.

In another case, a young woman became a quadriplegic when the Chevrolet S10 pickup in which she was riding rolled four times. Nebraska courts awarded her $18.6 million.

Members of the Washington safety establishment are unsure about what to make of Lawlor and some consider her a tool of the trial lawyers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rejected her invitation to take part in the summit, Lawlor said.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers does not plan to send anyone to the summit either.

Lawlor has set out to compel U.S. regulators to write a tougher vehicle roof-strength standard than the one that has been on the books since 1971 and she wants a stronger rule than the one the federal government is planning to adopt.

Her goal is to prevent vehicle roofs from collapsing on occupants in crashes and hopefully save thousands of lives a year.

Scheduled speakers at the Lawlor Summit include crash victims, lawyers, health care professionals and engineers.

Joan Claybrook, president of the consumer group Public Citizen plans to attend along with Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.

The roof crush summit comes to Washington as Congress has set a deadline of April 2009 for adoption of a final roof crush rule.

NHTSA is working on changes to the rule and is expected to issue a revised preliminary proposal this fall.

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