On the 1st September, Kevin Hart was one of two passengers in his resto-mod 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, when another person who was driving lost control and crashed, rolling the car. Now we have learned that everyone in the car has lawyered up, including Hart.
It is believed that the driver and back seat passenger of the car are considering suing Hart, as the 1970 Barracuda was not fitted with safety harnesses or airbags, which were not even invented in 1970. However, they still claim that this is negligence on Kevin Hart’s part.
The shop that resto-modded Hart’s Barracuda, SpeedKore, is also facing a lawsuit. The logic (if you could call it that) is that SpeedKore are the experts, and should have refused to modify the Barracuda without also adding safety harnesses.
If you’re thinking that this is absurd, you’re not the only one. In the latest episode of Lehto’s Law, Steve Lehto, an attorney for 26 years, discusses the negligence lawsuit faced by SpeedKore. He says:
“Is there negligence on anyone’s part? It sounds like the person behind the wheel may have been negligent. But beyond that, you can’t go back and get the people who did the job on the car and get them, unless you say they forgot to reconnect the brakes, or connect the steering column or something like that. But if that car rolled out of their shop perfectly street legal and street driveable? Nothing there. So will there be lawsuits? Probably. There’s lots of money at stake I’d assume. But will those lawsuits succeed? Probably not”
In other words, the only person who may successfully be sued is the driver, as common sense would dictate. But common sense isn’t always common practice.
