Johnette C. Alexander, et al. v. KIA Motors America, Inc.

Analysis Group Senior Advisor Bruce Strombom was retained by KIA Motors America in a suit alleging that the seat belts in the 2001 and 2002 KIA Sephia were too short. Dr. Strombom provided testimony at trial to rebut plaintiff's damages expert. Dr. Strombom rebutted plaintiff's claim of accelerated depreciation using two methods. The first was to demonstrate that the depreciation of the Sephia was consistent with the depreciation of other cars in the same class. The second was to compare the depreciation rates of the 2001 and 2002 Sephia with the rates for the 2003 and 2004 models in which the problem with the seat belt had been addressed. This analysis showed that the depreciation patterns were similar regardless of model year. KIA prevailed at trial.