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The crusaderSalina attorney takes on GM to help injured teen-agerBy DAVID CLOUSTONThe Salina JournalNot all vehicle fuel tanks explode, not all coffeemakers catch fire, and not all breast implants leak.Such catastrophes aren’t predictable, but the lawsuits that inevitably follow are.To Salina attorney Dana Ryan, it’s not a question of blame but incentive.“I think most of the effective safety improvements, at least in the automobile industry and probably in many others, have resulted not from consumer advocates — certainly not from the federal, state or local governments, certainly not from the self-policing of the motor vehicle manufacturer’s association — but certainly from product liability awards and the negative publicity that resulted from them,” she said.“Look at the (Ford) Pinto fuel tanks. That didn’t get fixed by Congress, that didn’t get fixed by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), that didn’t get fixed by (Ralph) Nader.That got fixed by Grimshaw versus Ford, $124 million dollars.”Taking on GMIn Detroit, Ryan is known as the “country lawyer” who wrestled General Motors to the ground and made it cry uncle. For three years, she devoted virtually her entire practice to Stump vs. General Motors, a case involving a then 15-year-old high school student, Jana Stump, who was paralyzed after a one-car accident in Belleville in 1990.Stump’s lawsuit, filed in 1991, was settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum this spring, but not until Ryan and fellow attorney Bob Adrian learned what it was like to oppose the bureaucracy of GM,As a result, Ryan, now in her own practice, has gained a national reputation in the area of automobile products liability. Her notoriety has brought invitations to speak before attorney’s groups across the country, and a raft of other would-be clients vying for her assistance.Stump’s case hinged, literally, on a claim that the passenger seat in the car she was riding in, was defective. On the last day of school her freshman year, Stump was riding with a friend to another friend’s house in the country when the car crossed the railroad tracks on a sand and gravel country road and the driver lost control. Her friend was OK, but Stump suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down.► See ATTORNEY, Page 11Tom Oorsey/Salina JournalDana Ryan - sttled a lawsuit with GM that allowed Jana Stump to go to college.
Newspaper Details
Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Sun, Feb 05, 1995
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Jan 2020
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