Upstate Jury Says Harley-Davidson Must Pay $287 Million for Fatal ‘Trike’ Accident

An upstate New York jury has awarded more than $287 million in punitive damages and other compensation to a man and the estate of his deceased girlfriend following a fatal accident involving their Harley-Davidson “trike” motorcycle.

The Livingston County Supreme Court jury ordered Harley-Davidson to pay Harold Morris of Batavia, New York, $120 million in punitive damages and pay an additional $120 million in punitive damages to the estate of his longtime companion Pamela SinClair. The jury also awarded compensation for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expense reimbursement, future medical reimbursement and future pain and suffering. Additional compensation was awarded to the family of SinClair.

In June, 2020, 75-year-old Morris and SinClair were involved in a tragic accident while riding a 2019 Harley-Davidson trike motorcycle, which is so-named because it has three wheels. SinClair was killed in the accident and Morris sustained catastrophic injuries.

Morris contended that a trike malfunction caused the accident. He also claimed they had experienced the very same malfunction in an accident riding the same bike a year earlier but he and SinCalir were not seriously injured that time. Morris claimed that an unintentional activation of one rear brake by the traction control system caused both accidents.

Following the first crash, Harley-Davidson issued a recall concerning the trike’s traction control software system and Morris took the bike to a local shop for repairs. The second fatal accident happened a few months later.

Harley-Davidson maintained the accidents were Morris’s fault. The company denied the bike was defective and claimed that Morris never proved Harley-Davidson was liable for any manufacturing or design defect, an inadequate warning, breach of express warranty or that a bike malfunction was the proximate cause of the crash. The manufacturer also argued it was not responsible for the repair shop’s actions.

Morris said that because of his injuries he had no memory of the accident until five or six weeks after it happened.

Morris’s attorney Edelstein issued a statement after the August 13 verdict was announced: “This is small town justice in a big-time way. For over four years, Harley-Davidson has been claiming that both accidents were Harold’s fault, which we knew not to be true. So, the first thing we had to do was exonerate Harold. The second thing was to make sure these horrific events would not happen to anyone else. The message this jury sent was super, super powerful. Companies putting out unsafe and dangerous products must and will be held accountable.”

Harley-Davidson’s attorneys told the Livingston County News that the verdict would be appealed.