Melvin and Voncile Hill were killed in April 2014 in the rollover wreck of their 2002 Ford F-250. Their children Kim and Adam Hill were the plaintiffs in the wrongful death case.
Ford Motor Co. plans to appeal a $1.7 billion verdict against the automaker in a civil case involving dangerously defective roofs on Ford pickup trucks.
Ford said it does not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence and will appeal. The Hill family sued Ford after their truck rolled over, killing Melvin and Voncile Hill.
Ford’s lawyers defended the company’s engineers and said the allegations that they were irresponsible and willfully put customers at risk are “simply not the case”.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs submitted evidence of nearly 80 similar rollover wrecks involving Ford trucks, and said more deaths and severe injuries are certain because millions of these trucks are on the road.
“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,” Butler said.
For more on this story, please consider these sources:
- Georgia jury awards $1.7 billion in Ford truck crash case ABC News
- Ford Faces $1.7 Billion in Damages Over Fatal Rollover of F-250 Pickup The Wall Street Journal
- Ford hit with $1.7 billion verdict for fatal crash, lawyer says Detroit News
- Weekend Stock Spotlight: Jury Tells Ford To Pay $1.7B To Family, T-Mobile Hedge Fund Favorite And Why Bit Benzinga
- Ford faces $1.7 billion damages bill over F-250 deaths, lawyers say Business Insider