Ford Motor Co. has disclosed pursuits to appeal a ruling ordering the company to settle the family of a Georgia couple killed in the course of driving one of their vehicles with $1.7 billion.
The judgment was reached late last week after the children of the departed, Adam Hill and Kim Hill, sued the motor-vehicle company over the 2014 rollover crash, which massacred their parents, Melvin Hill and Voncile Hill.
The siblings asserted in court that a feeble and faulty roof on their parent’s 2002 Ford F-250 contributed to their deaths.
The Family Lawyers also submitted proof that identical defective roofs were liable for injury or death in roughly 80 other cases,
Gerald Davidson from the Hill’s lawyers, Butler Prather LLP, said in a statement
“More deaths and severe injuries are certain because millions of these trucks are on the road”.
His colleague, James Butler Jr., also said:
“An award of punitive damages to hopefully warn people riding around in the millions of those trucks Ford sold was the reason the Hill family insisted on a verdict,”
In reaction, Ford’s lawyer William Withrow Jr. stated in a statement during a Wednesday court session that the establishment was set on defending itself against accusations that “its engineers acted willfully and wantonly, with a conscious indifference for the safety of the people who ride in their cars when they made these decisions about roof strength,”
read a court transcript.
“That’s not true, and we wanted a chance to put our case to you, and you’ve patiently listened to it. And we don’t think that they’ve made that case in their presentation today,” William added.
A representative for Ford also said:
“While our sympathies go out to the Hill family, we don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we plan to appeal. In the meantime, we aren’t going to litigate this matter through the news media.”
According to the press release, the evidence submitted in court
“showed the wreck was survivable, and the crushing of the roof caused the injuries that led to the deaths of Mr and Mrs Hill.”
Butler Jr. said Sunday that he “used to buy Ford trucks” and “thought nobody would sell a truck with a roof this weak,” reported multiple outlets.
According to the press release, the evidence presented in court:
“showed the wreck was survivable, and the crushing of the roof caused the injuries that led to the deaths of Mr and Mrs Hill.”
Butler Jr. said Sunday that he “used to buy Ford trucks” and “thought nobody would sell a truck with a roof this weak,”
“The damn thing is useless in a wreck,”
he added. “You might as well drive a convertible.”
