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Marshall federal jury awards $24 million in daughter's death By ART LAWLER The Longview News-Journal Tuesday, February 20, 2007 A federal jury in Marshall has awarded $24 million to the estate of a young woman killed in 2004 wreck in which her family said her seat belt failed. Lauren Frazier was thrown from the Chevrolet Tahoe in which she was a passenger after the truck was hit by a vehicle driven by Natalie M. White. Frazier had recently graduated from Pine Tree High School, where White was also a student. White pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison. She's appealing that sentence. The product liability case did not involve White. However, the eight-person jury was asked to decide whether any negligence on White's part was the actual cause of the fatal injury. The jurors said no. The $24 million verdict came in a case against Honeywell International. U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis let the verdict stand and an attorney for Honeywell declined to comment on the possibility of an appeal. Attorney Melissa Smith, representing Frazier's family, told jurors that Frazier was sitting behind the driver wearing her seat belt buckled when the other vehicle struck the Tahoe in the left front. Frazier, her parents and boyfriend were returning home from eating ice cream the night before she was set to begin her freshman year at Baylor University when the wreck occurred. Smith said the two vehicles had "side slapped" and the Tahoe rolled over once. "The defective buckle unlatched, and the young girl was ejected when the Tahoe rolled over," she said. The jurors found that Frazier was wearing a defective seat belt made by Honeywell. They attributed 5 percent of the fault to General Motors and 95 percent to Honeywell. The jury awarded her parents, Carol Wayne and Tonya R. Frazier, $2 million each for past mental anguish, $4 million each for future mental anguish, $2 million each for loss of past companionship and $4 million each for loss of future companionship. This might be the largest personal injury award in history of the federal court in Marshall.
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