The fact that Jesus Marines’ parents were present when he took a test drive of the vehicle has a subtly depressing quality. As they watched their son sit behind the wheel of a 2020 Ford Mustang at a Northwest Side dealership on Loop 1604 near Braun Road, they were as excited as any 20-year-old would be. He passed away seventeen days later.
A Motors Sales & Finance LLC, the San Antonio dealership that sold Marines the Mustang for about $36,000 on January 17, has now been sued by the family for wrongful death. Negligence, fraud, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act are alleged in the complaint, which seeks more than $1 million in damages. The catalytic converter, which the lawsuit claims was missing from the car when it was sold and allowed exhaust gasses to get past emissions controls and seep straight into the passenger cabin, is at the heart of it all.
Marines drove to Comanche Lookout Park on the Northeast Side with his girlfriend, Maria Fernanda Ortiz, on the evening of January 26. It was only in the mid-20s. They sat in the idling Mustang with the windows up and the engine running for warmth, just like couples do on chilly evenings.
A San Antonio police officer discovered them both unconscious inside at around one in the morning on January 27. Investigators found that the vehicle’s carbon monoxide levels were higher than what their testing apparatus could detect. Marines was declared dead. After being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, Ortiz received hyperbaric oxygen therapy and recovered consciousness two days later.
Gonzalo Marines, Marines’ father; Maria del Rosario Vasquez, his mother; and Ortiz herself filed the lawsuit. Felix Gonzalez, their lawyer, told the San Antonio Express-News that the family was thrilled to purchase the vehicle. Excited is a word that weighs heavily on everything that came after.
Following the incident, the plaintiffs’ hired experts inspected the Mustang and, according to the lawsuit, verified that the catalytic converter was absent. According to the lawsuit, the former owner denied making any such changes. This makes it difficult to determine exactly where the car was in that gap and whether a simple pre-sale inspection should have found it. Regarding the lawsuit, an A Motors Sales representative declined to comment.
It’s important to understand the effects of carbon monoxide. It is colorless, odorless, and warning-free. It can knock someone out in a matter of minutes at high concentrations inside a closed car. One of the things that makes the situation at Comanche Lookout Park so difficult to deal with is that there is no moment of alarm or instinct that takes over. Ortiz and the Marines had no way of knowing.
Before the case ever gets to a jury, it will now proceed through the civil process, which includes expert depositions, discovery, and possibly a settlement. The family’s lawyers are relying on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which exposes companies to actual damages, legal fees, and additional penalties in cases of knowing violations. The court will have to determine whether this case reaches that threshold.
The cost to this family is certain. When a son purchased a car, his parents observed him taking it for a test drive. He never returned home after sitting in that same car on a chilly nite nine days later. In the San Antonio Mustang dealership lawsuit, the court is now asked to decide what responsibility entails when a used car has a hidden defect and whether the sellers had any duty to discover it beforehand.
