According to the lawsuit filed this week in Madera County Superior Court, which seeks unspecified damages, Graciela Martinez was driven to school, on Sept. 11, 2013, in the family’s 1997 BMW 328i four-door sedan by her older brother, Oscar.
After arriving at the Madera High School in Madera, about 20 miles northwest of Fresno, and parking in the rear of the parking lot at about 6:40 a.m., Oscar and his twin sister, Patricia, exited the car, leaving Graciela inside so she could get some extra sleep before her first class at 7:40 a.m., it said.
To ensure his younger sister was not disturbed, Oscar Martinez locked the car from the outside, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the design of the “double-locking mechanism” was faulty and presented a “substantial danger” to passengers because it did not allow them to unlock the vehicle from inside. Furthermore, it said, the car’s horn could not be operated without the key being inserted in the ignition and that the vehicle was not equipped with an emergency release lever.
