HFS Earns Another Defense Verdict for Ford Motor Company

The Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart defense team of Alan Thomas, Paul Malek and Chip Jett along with Mike Boorman and Audrey Berland of Atlanta, Georgia based law firm Huff, Powell & Bailey secured a wrongful death product liability defense verdict in favor of Ford Motor Company on Thursday, November 14, 2013. The three week trial in Cobb County, Georgia stemmed from a 2002 crash involving a 1995 Ford Explorer.

The wrongful death case was brought on by the children of the deceased Explorer driver. Their mother was driving the 1995 Explorer in Springfield, Georgia when it was hit by a Dodge Ram on the driver’s side. Plaintiffs’ alleged that the driver’s seat belt inertially unlatched when the Explorer was impacted and sought a verdict of 10-20 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. After a day of deliberations following the trial, the jury unanimously determined that the vehicle was not negligently designed, ruling in favor of Ford.

HFS paralegals working on the case were Mindy Ruggiero and Corey Thomas. The jury’s decision is the third defense verdict by HFS for Ford Motor Company and the seventh defense verdict for HFS trial teams in Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia this year.