The Alabama Supreme Court overturned a $1.2 million jury verdict against Freightliner, ruling that the trucking company had no obligation to give an Alabama customer information about the quality of its manufacturing plant in Mexico, the Associated Press reported.
Whatley Contract Carriers, which is now out of business, sued Freightliner over the purchase of 40 trucks that came from the company’s plant in Mexico. A Montgomery Circuit Court jury decided Freightliner had suppressed information about problems with the Mexican plant and awarded the trucking company $440,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. Freightliner, a division of DaimlerChrysler, appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.
In a 5-0 decision on Friday, Oct. 21, the Supreme Court reversed the jury’s verdict, according to AP. “Freightliner did not assume a duty to disclose all the facts it had regarding the Mexico plant,” the court said.
“Had Whatley considered that information necessary to WCC’s decision-making process, he could have inquired about the data. He did not,” Justice Lyn Stuart wrote.
