|
Printable version  |
 The 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed a $60 million jury verdict against the nation's second-largest automaker, Ford, involving a fatal rollover crash of an Explorer SUV.
Ford appealed the verdict in June 2006 on the grounds that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Roberto Pineiro erred by allowing testimony alluding to hundreds of Ford Explorer accidents without requiring the plaintiffs to establish similarities between those accidents and the fatal one that caused the 1997 death of 17-year-old Lance Crossman Hall.
"We're pleased that the court recognized that we did not get a fair trial, and we're looking forward to restarting this," Ford spokeswoman
Attorneys representing Hall's family were less enthused but prepared for a new trial.
During the time of Hall's death, the hundreds of deaths involving rolling Ford Explorers and failing Bridgestone tires made national headlines and led to a $19 million recall campaign by both companies in 2000 and 2001. In the case of Hall's accident, the Explorer in which he was riding flipped four times. The accident ejected him from the sports utility vehicle even though he was wearing his seatbelt.
The panel consisting of Chief Judge David M. Gersten, Senior Judge Alan R. Schwartz and Judge Angel A. Cortiņas set aside the jury's verdict and remanded the case for a new trial involving both liability and compensatory damages.
Pineiro "never inquired into the general characteristics of the other accidents," Cortiņas wrote. "Here, throughout the trial, numerous references were made to other cases without laying a foundation for substantial similarity."
During the trial, witnesses testified that rollover accidents involving Ford Explorers caused hundreds of injuries and deaths, and that Ford could have prevented Hall's death by quickening design changes it made to the Explorer after the accident.
"Trying to compare other cases that involved the tires to a case involving a driver that fell asleep at the wheel are completely unrelated," Ford said. In this case "it was about a driver that fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle."
Hall, a North Miami resident, died after being thrown from the passenger-side front seat of a somersaulting 1996 Ford Explorer after the driver fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle. Hall's parents filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against Ford in 1999 alleging defects in the Explorer's handling and stability characteristics caused the SUV to flip instead of skid.
A jury eventually found Ford liable for placing the Explorer on the market with a design flaw and determined this flaw caused the accident. Hall's family won a compensatory jury verdict of $60 million following a trial that ended in November 2005. Half the verdict represented the pain and suffering of his father; half was for the pain and suffering of his mother, Joan Hall-Edwards.
|
|
|
 |
|
LSSLC, LLC provides the information in this newsletter for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation.
The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
|
|
|
Full Newsletter
