West Virginia Trial Against Subaru for Motorist Death Begins Jan. 23

Nearly eight years after a car wreck claimed the lives of a mother and two teens in Cabell County, a trial is set to begin in a lawsuit against Subaru.

The trial is slated for Jan. 23 in Kanawha County, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Claims against Subaru are all that remain from lawsuits filed in 2011 by the families of 47-year-old Carole Crawford, 16-year-old Meaghan McGuire Crawford and 15-year-old Kelsey Kuhn. The three were killed when a Ford Explorer struck the Crawfords’ Subaru Forester head-on on West Virginia Route 10 between Huntington and Barboursville in 2009.

The Subaru caught fire and its occupants couldn’t escape, despite attempts by people who stopped to help. Nearby resident Mike Edens was one of them.

“I just wish I hadn’t went over there. There was nothing I could do,” Edens told the Huntington Herald-Dispatch at the time.

The lawsuit alleges that the construction of the Subaru contributed to the deaths. Subaru vehemently denies the allegations.

In addition to the car manufacturer, lawsuits were also filed against Dr. Anita Dawson, who wrote several prescriptions for pain medication for the driver of the Explorer, Erma Marie Brown. Brown was also sued, along with pharmacies that filled her prescription orders.

Brown later pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of prescription painkillers and was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Scott Segal says claims against all of the defendants besides Subaru were previously resolved. He wouldn’t elaborate on the terms of the settlements.