Thomas family loses suit against General Motors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The family of former Kansas City Chiefs star Derrick Thomas is not entitled to any money from General Motors Corp. for the crash that killed the nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker, a jury ruled Tuesday.

Thomas' mother, Edith Morgan, his seven children and their five mothers sued GM, seeking at least $75 million. They claimed Thomas was fatally injured when the roof of his Chevrolet Suburban caved in during the Jan. 23, 2000, crash.

The automaker's attorneys said during the monthlong trial in Jackson County Circuit Court that Thomas was killed not because of faulty design of his 1999 Suburban, but because he was driving too fast for the snowy conditions, and was ejected from the vehicle because he was not wearing his seat belt.

Thomas was paralyzed from the neck down. He died 16 days later from complications.

His best friend, Michael Tellis, who also was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. A third person in the vehicle -- who was wearing a seat belt -- walked away unharmed.

"It's not surprising," plaintiffs' attorney Michael Piuze said of the jury's decision. "The problem with this case is that in the last four years since he got hurt, there has been an awful lot of publicity that Derrick Thomas was at fault, that Derrick Thomas was not wearing a seat belt."

Piuze said this was his fifth rollover case against a U.S. automaker, and the first one he has lost.

Morgan, who started the "Buckle Up for Derrick" campaign soon after her son's death to urge Kansas City motorists to wear seat belts, said she was disappointed in the decision, but her family would survive.

"We're going to be strong and fight the good fight of faith," she said. "It has been very, very tough to relive these incidents all over again."

Even if they would have awarded something, it couldn't have taken the place of my son."

She said she would take her campaign to strengthen automobile roofs to other National Football League cities where she frequently has spoken about the need to wear seat belts.

"I will tell NFL mothers I don't want any other mothers to go through what I've gone through," Morgan said.