Anybody have more info on this case?
I rarely take the side of big business, but I have to wonder about this lawsuit. When people buy SUVs, they do realize that SUVs are more likely than cars to rollover, right?
Lots of SUV accidents happen when people don't drive them properly. They drive too fast, make sharp turns, etc. Then they blame the auto companies.
According to the article, the Ford Explorer meets or exceeds all federal safety standards. I'm sorry this lady is paralyzed, but I'm not sure if Ford is to blame. I just think she had some really bad luck and had a terrible accident.
Rollover victim wins $369M verdict
Ford plans to appeal
Thursday, June 3, 2004 Posted: 9:07 PM EDT (0107 GMT)
SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- A jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay nearly $369 million to a woman paralyzed in a rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport utility vehicle.
The jury Thursday ordered the No. 2 automaker to pay $246 million in punitive damages. It awarded more than $122.6 million in compensatory damages Tuesday.
The award is one of the biggest ever against the automaker and marked the first loss after 11 victories in rollover lawsuits involving the Ford Explorer.
Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, has said it will appeal.
The trial involved a January 2002 accident east of San Diego. Driver Benetta Buell-Wilson swerved to avoid a metal object and lost control of her 1997 Explorer, which rolled 41/2 times.
During a news conference after the verdict, Buell-Wilson, a 49-year-old mother of two, offered to knock $100 million off the damage award if Ford would fix the design problems in the Explorer that left her permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
"I'm hoping they'll fix what's out there because I don't want what's happened to me to happen to anyone else," Buell-Wilson said Thursday.
In a statement, Ford insisted the Explorer was safe.
"Although the offer makes a great sound bite, it doesn't change the facts: The Explorer meets or exceeds all Federal safety standards. There is no defect with the Explorer," spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said.
"The Explorer is an outstanding vehicle with a solid safety record and we will continue to aggressively defend our products."
Ford has sold more than 5 million Explorers since the vehicle was introduced in 1990, she said.
Dennis Schoville, Buell-Wilson's attorney, contended Ford had sacrificed passenger safety for profits. The lawsuit involved design issues found on all Explorers made through 2001, Schoville said.
Schoville said Ford declined to follow its engineers' suggestions to widen the Explorer's wheel track or to lower its center of gravity -- costly changes that would make the vehicle more stable. Concern about costs also kept Ford from sufficiently reinforcing the Explorer's roof to protect passengers in a vehicle "they know is going to roll over," he said.
"This is an important message because there are a lot of people out there that are driving these vehicles that don't have, like Mrs. Wilson, any clue of what could happen," Schoville said.
I rarely take the side of big business, but I have to wonder about this lawsuit. When people buy SUVs, they do realize that SUVs are more likely than cars to rollover, right?
Lots of SUV accidents happen when people don't drive them properly. They drive too fast, make sharp turns, etc. Then they blame the auto companies.
According to the article, the Ford Explorer meets or exceeds all federal safety standards. I'm sorry this lady is paralyzed, but I'm not sure if Ford is to blame. I just think she had some really bad luck and had a terrible accident.
Rollover victim wins $369M verdict
Ford plans to appeal
Thursday, June 3, 2004 Posted: 9:07 PM EDT (0107 GMT)
SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- A jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay nearly $369 million to a woman paralyzed in a rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport utility vehicle.
The jury Thursday ordered the No. 2 automaker to pay $246 million in punitive damages. It awarded more than $122.6 million in compensatory damages Tuesday.
The award is one of the biggest ever against the automaker and marked the first loss after 11 victories in rollover lawsuits involving the Ford Explorer.
Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, has said it will appeal.
The trial involved a January 2002 accident east of San Diego. Driver Benetta Buell-Wilson swerved to avoid a metal object and lost control of her 1997 Explorer, which rolled 41/2 times.
During a news conference after the verdict, Buell-Wilson, a 49-year-old mother of two, offered to knock $100 million off the damage award if Ford would fix the design problems in the Explorer that left her permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
"I'm hoping they'll fix what's out there because I don't want what's happened to me to happen to anyone else," Buell-Wilson said Thursday.
In a statement, Ford insisted the Explorer was safe.
"Although the offer makes a great sound bite, it doesn't change the facts: The Explorer meets or exceeds all Federal safety standards. There is no defect with the Explorer," spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said.
"The Explorer is an outstanding vehicle with a solid safety record and we will continue to aggressively defend our products."
Ford has sold more than 5 million Explorers since the vehicle was introduced in 1990, she said.
Dennis Schoville, Buell-Wilson's attorney, contended Ford had sacrificed passenger safety for profits. The lawsuit involved design issues found on all Explorers made through 2001, Schoville said.
Schoville said Ford declined to follow its engineers' suggestions to widen the Explorer's wheel track or to lower its center of gravity -- costly changes that would make the vehicle more stable. Concern about costs also kept Ford from sufficiently reinforcing the Explorer's roof to protect passengers in a vehicle "they know is going to roll over," he said.
"This is an important message because there are a lot of people out there that are driving these vehicles that don't have, like Mrs. Wilson, any clue of what could happen," Schoville said.
