US Auto Injury Law: Rollover Case Yields Punitives of $246 Million: Vehicle Defect Lawyers

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June 4, 2004

Daily Journal, "Rollover Case Yields Punitives of $246 Million"

A San Diego, California jury added $246 million in punitive damages to the $122 million the panel had awarded in compensatory damages to a woman paralyzed by a rollover accident in her Ford Explorer. The plaintiff's lawyers in the case said the verdict against Ford Motor Co. was the first in which a jury decided that poor design of the Explorer caused injuries in rollover crashes. The combined monetary award totaling $368 million is the second-largest verdict against an automaker.

Speaking from her wheelchair, plaintiff Benetta Buell-Wilson said after the verdict that she would waive $100 million of the punitive damages if Ford would agree within 72 hours to recall the millions of Explorers sold from 1990 through 2001. Buell-Wilson said Ford should fix instability and roof-weakness flaws. "Please recall these unsafe cars," she said. Besides being likely to overturn during avoidance maneuvers, she said, the roof "crumples just like paper."

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