Pacific Grove woman paralyzed in 2010 crash suing Toyota

A Pacific Grove woman who was paralyzed in a drunken-driving accident in 2010 is suing Toyota. Trial began this week in Monterey County Superior Court.

In her $30 million lawsuit against Toyota, Chelsie Hill claims the lapbelt she was wearing in the middle of the rear seat of the Toyota 4Runner was the reason she was paralyzed in the Feb. 2010 crash. Hill was a high school senior at the time of the crash.

Hill was one of four passengers in the SUV that was driven by her friend, Aaron Corn. Corn, then 19, pleaded no contest to charges stemming from the crash in 2011.

The other teenagers suffered various injuries when the car crashed head-on into a tree, but only Hill was paralyzed from the waist down.

Hill’s suit contends that it would have cost Toyota only a few hundred dollars per vehicle to outfit the middle seats with three-point shoulder harness seat belts.

“We sympathize with anyone in an accident involving one of our vehicles, and we respect Ms. Hill’s ongoing efforts to help young people better understand the dangers of drunk driving,” said Carly Schaffner, Toyota’s business communications manager. “With regard to this case, we believe her injuries resulted from the extreme severity of this unfortunate accident and an improperly adjusted seat belt, not from a design or manufacturing defect in the 1996 Toyota 4Runner.”