Justice did not prevail for us an Average American Family On Automobile Safety

My True Story
By Betty Vaughn Paul

My story began almost 10 years ago on December 15, 1996 when my son’s 1994 LHS Automobile experienced the first of two Electro-Mechanical and other failures. The Big Automobile Manufacturer did not permit a Dealership mechanic to inspect the car on three occasions and the vehicle remains parked at the Dealership in Elizabethton, TN because we are afraid to drive a dangerous car.
The mechanical failures could have resulted in injuries or death of my son and others and we accepted the car with reservations when it was returned to us after the undercarriage was repaired.
The Safeco Insurance Co. had also requested to have the car fully inspected but the Manufacturer of the car denied this request again.
We made every possible effort to find an answer to these problems and wrote a letter to the President of this Big Auto –Manufacturer and outlined in great detail the Electro-Mechanical failures.
Our interest was also to find an answer to our concern about Automobile Safety and we have written over forty Certified and Registered letters to State, Federal and other agencies including our local Congressman and endeavored their support.
The second malfunction occurred in October 1998, one week after the car had been returned to us. The motor first hesitated and then stalled with black smoke pouring from under the hood and this happened at a busy intersection while my son was waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass. He depressed the gas pedal in the normal way, but the motor greatly accelerated forcing the car across this busy intersection almost causing a high speed collision.
My son had difficulties to control the car and had to depress the brake so hard that the Serpentine Belt was jarred loose but he was still able to move the car very slowly to his home nearby.
We notified the Dealer and manufacturer again and asked for the car to be towed to the Dealership to be properly inspected by their mechanic since the car was still under an extended warranty.
It had not been our intention to engage an attorney and file for legal actions but the continued refusal of the Manufacturer to have the car properly inspected after this last dangerous calamity and the advice from experts forced us to take this action.
The first Injustice we experienced was committed by the State Court of Elizabethton, TN when this courts action had come to the “Summary of Judgment” of our case.
The briefs submitted by the Attorney of the Manufacturer were erroneous statements and time-lines. In addition, he had made use of every ploy available to jeopardize our case and prevent it from being heard before a Court, Jury and an invited News-Media.
The Judges ruling in this Summary of Judgment was “by a stroke of a pen” in favor of the Manufacturer. The brief of our own Attorney was factual, truthful, showing the evidence that the Manufacturer had done nothing to address the Electro-Mechanical and other failures of our car.
My son had written to the President of the firm that had manufactured his car on January 6, 1997 about the Electro-Mechanical and other failures he had experienced, the dangers he was exposed to and his desire to have the car inspected and repaired.
He had not received an answer to his letter but saw later that there are five recalls of this car for exactly the problems he had reported. Some of these recalls were never issued to the Dealer or the owner of the car and we learned about them from the National Highway Transportation and Safety Agency.
We contacted State and Federal Judicial agencies after our experience with the Judge in Elizabethton, TN including the State Attorney for Tennessee Motor Vehicles in Nashville, TN, Attorney Ross White. He advised us to request a letter from the Chief of the N.H.T.S.A. of Washington, D.C. to inform us about the specific wording of a Mandate they had issued to the manufacturer of our car “to fix the defects and problems”.
We never had a response to this written request.
We contacted Attorney Ross White again and told him about the poor compliance we had experienced with N.H.T.S.A. a federal Agency. But he advised us not to give up but to take our case to the Court of appeals in Knoxville, TN for Oral Arguments and an official ruling. Our attorney filed a very complete Brief with this court but our case was never considered and the Summary of Judgment given to the Manufacturer of the car without our Attorney present at this session since he had never been notified of its date or time.
Our next step was to take our case to the Supreme Court of Knoxville, TN again for Oral Arguments, but our request was denied. We called the Nashville, TN office about a bill we had received for this Court Session even though we had paid $1000.00 in advance and the clerk told us to file an appeal in three days. Our attorney made this appeal and refiled for Oral Arguments but we as an Average American Family were denied our Legal Rights to have our case heard by a Court and Jury which was a great Injustice.
We went as far as the Attorney General in Nashville, TN. But even his office did not want to interfere with rulings of other courts and even the Disciplinary Council of the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary responded “That Judges in question could not be reprimanded for having rendered their own opinion.”
We are now aware that our Judicial System is not ruling on issues that could prevent possible mishaps but rule after it has occurred. (i.e. Ford Explorer and Firestone Tires)
OUR FIGHT IS NOT OVER TO STAND UP FOR AUTOMOBILE SAFETY AND LIVES