Paul Walker’s Daughter Is Suing Porsche
Paul Walker's daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche, according to documents obtained by TMZ. Lawyers for 16-year-old Meadow Walker contend that the Porsche Carrera GT, which Walker was a passenger in at the time of his death, has mechanical issues specific to that model.
The suit also contains somewhat grisly details about the accident (so: trigger warning), including the claim that the actor survived the impact, but his seat belt "snapped Walker's torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis," leaving him trapped. In perhaps the scariest reveal of all, the documents allege that it was a full minute and 20 seconds before the car burst into flames, and "Paul Walker breathed soot into his trachea while the Porsche Carrera GT burned."
The suit also counters law enforcement's determination that speeding at 80 to 93 MPH caused the crash, saying driver Roger Rodas was actually driving between 63 and 71 MPH when he lost control of the vehicle. Which points to the central reason the suit is directed at Porsche: Meadow's attorneys argue that the Porsche model in question has a "a history of instability and control issues."
This defect, and the swerving it caused, could have been corrected with a Porsche Stability Management System (PSM), according to the legal documents. Though PSM is standard in other Porsche models, the company decided not to install it in the Carrera GT. The suit names several other safety defects in the model, which they say contributed to the fiery fatal crash.
Roger Rodas' widow filed her own suit against Porsche in May of 2014. According to CNN, the judge dismissed several of her claims, but ruled that the car maker still had to answer for cited mechanical defects, and a revised case could proceed to trail.
The amount of damages Meadow is seeking is unspecified. Porsche has maintained that the crash was due to driver error.