LAFAYETTE – An Arkansas consumer alleges she was severely burned by seat warmers in a Chevrolet vehicle.
Sherry Rinehart filed a complaint on May 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana against General Motors and Extreme Cars & Trucks LLC alleging negligence and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is a paraplegic and does not have physical sensation in her legs and lower body. The suit states she and her mother were traveling in a 2015 Chevrolet Impala on May 2, 2016, and that the plaintiff fell asleep in the car with the seat warmers on. She alleges that as a result of the high temperatures being generated by the seat warmers of defendants' Chevy Impala, plaintiff suffered severe, second-degree burns on her buttocks.
The plaintiff holds General Motors and Extreme Cars & Trucks LLC responsible because defendant GM allegedly failed to contain a safety mechanism whereby such harm could be avoided or prevented.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensatory and economic damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees, costs and all further relief as the court deems just and proper. She is represented by Kathy A. Rito and Walter C. Morrison IV of Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshauer LLC in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Case number 3:17-cv-00588