- A jury awarded Godwin Boateng nearly $2 million in damages last year.
- The payout includes $800k for past pain and $850k for future suffering.
- Owner claimed the BMW’s soft-close doors posed a serious safety risk.
BMW has failed in its attempt to overturn a jury’s decision that awarded a man $1.9 million in damages after the soft-close door of his X5 partially severed his thumb. The case, which stretches back nearly a decade, has now reached its final stop, leaving the automaker to pay up after years of legal sparring.
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Read: BMW Owner Awarded $1.9 Million After Soft-Close Door Snips Thumb
The German automaker will now have to pony up the cash, despite making the argument that anyone should know not to place their hand in the path of a closing door.
How Did It Happen?
It’s been nearly ten years since New York resident Godwin Boateng lost the tip of his right thumb in July 2016. At the time, he was resting his hand on the door pillar of his 2013 BMW X5 xDrive35i Sport, with the door open about a foot. As it swung shut, the soft-close mechanism engaged and severed the top of his finger.
BMW inspected the vehicle and later concluded that there were no defects in the soft-close door mechanism and denied any responsibility for damage or injuries. However, Boateng sued the German automaker and claimed he could lose up to $3 million in wages due to missing the tip of his thumb.
In mid-2024, the case finally went to trial, and a jury awarded the X5 owner $1.9 million in damages. This consisted of $800,000 for past pain and suffering, $850,000 for future pain and suffering, and roughly $255,000 for past lost earnings.
Boateng claimed in the lawsuit that BMW’s soft-close doors were dangerous as, unlike its side windows, they didn’t use sensors to detect if any object was stuck.
BMW Appeal Attempts Fail
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As reported by Car Complaints, BMW sought a new trial after the verdict, but the district court rejected the motion. The automaker then took its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, hoping for a reversal. That effort also failed.
The appellate court agreed with the original jury and declined to reopen the case, ruling that BMW had engaged in “deceptive omission” by not warning customers about the risk of placing a hand in the door’s path.
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Source: Carcomplaints
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