The father of a 17-year-old girl who died after her vehicle hit a Lindsay X-LITE guardrail terminal has filed a lawsuit against the companies involved in the product's manufacturing and installation.
Hannah Eimers was driving northbound on Interstate 75 in McMinn County where her car left the road, striking an X-Lite terminal. Instead of deflecting her vehicle, the rail impaled her car. She died instantly.
Since that November 2016 crash, her father has been fighting to have X-Lites removed from roads nationwide.
“Every day, my family must confront the never-ending nightmare of losing our beautiful daughter Hannah, a pain shared by many others across this country who have seen precious lives cut short by this dangerous product,” Steve Eimers said in a statement about the lawsuit.
The suit filed Tuesday in McMinn County Circuit Court seeks relief for physical, mental and financial damages incurred by the Eimers family as the result of their daughter's death. The Eimers family is being represented by Ted Leopold and Leslie Mitchell Kroeger of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
Lindsay Transportation Solutions issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit Tuesday:
“Lindsay Transportation Solutions’ top priority is to provide solutions that reduce the number and severity of injuries sustained in automobile accidents.
X-LITE has successfully passed crash and safety tests in accordance with Federal standards and criteria, and remains eligible for Federal transportation funding. There is no road safety equipment that can prevent injury every time a driver fails to stay on the road, but X-Lite has reduced the number and severity of injuries sustained in automobile accidents. A variety of factors contribute to the potential for injury when a driver fails to stay on the road, including speed, the angle at which a vehicle makes impact, and whether road safety equipment is installed and maintained properly."
Three other families whose loved ones died in fatal crashes involving X-Lite guardrails filed suit against the Lindsay Corp. and other companies involved in manufacturing the X-Lite in June. Those lawsuits were filed in Cumberland and Hamilton counties, and alleged the guardrails were improperly made, tested, installed and maintained.
The Lindsay X-Lite, which was removed from TDOT's approved list of terminal devices just one week before the fatal crash, citing "concerns about potential long term performance issues" when vehicles exceed 45 miles per hour. The speed limit on the stretch of road where Hannah Eimers crashed is 70 miles per hour.
Virginia made a similar move to stop installing X-Lites in September 2016.
TDOT has committed to removing more than 1,800 X-Lites installed across the state. The due date for the work to be completed is June 30, 2018.
“Companies who profit from selling safety mechanisms and who create public hazards, instead of public safety, must accept responsibility and do everything possible to ensure these tragedies never happen again," Eimers said.
In June 2017, the Eimers family was accidentally billed $3,000 for damage to the guardrail. A TDOT spokesperson said the bill was sent because of a processing mistake.
Since his daughter's death, Steve Eimers has began a campaign to raise awareness of the X-LITE's threat to drivers. He has pushed policy makers at the federal, state and local level to act.
In April 2017, Eimers testified in front of the Tennessee House Transportation Committee. He also met with Federal Highway Administration officials in Washington D.C. in April, as well.
In a May 3 memo, Federal Highway Administration acting associate administrator Elizabeth Alicandri wrote that an outside expert reviewed the X-Lite’s original crash test data, and found it met the criteria in place at the time.