Ford has settled a wrongful death suit brought by the family of an up-and-coming baseball player who was killed when his Ford Explorer rolled over in 2001.
The settlement, terms of which were not disclosed, followed a stunning $131 million jury verdict for the plaintiffs -- the ninth largest verdict against a car manufacturer in U.S. history. The settlement, observers say, was likely an attempt by Ford to avoid an additional award of punitive damages, which could have increased the company's liability by tens of millions of additional dollars.
The suit was brought by the family of Brian Cole, a New York Met drafted in 1998. On March 31, 2001, Cole was en route from Mets training camp in Florida to his home in Mississippi when his Explorer rolled over, ejecting him from the car and killing him. His 17-year-old cousin Ryan walked away from the accident.
Tab Turner, the Cole family's attorney, said that Brian was wearing his seat belt, but that it malfunctioned when the car rolled over.
Long-running problem
The case was a fresh reminder of the Explorer's nearly decade-old travails. Beginning in 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the vehicle's unusually high incidence of fatalities -- over 100 people had died in accidents involving Explorers -- and was initially unsure whether the problem lay with the vehicles themselves or the Firestone tires with which they were equipped.
Firestone eventually got the lion's share of the blame; 3.85 million Firestone tires were recalled, and in 2002 NHTSA declined to open an investigation into the Explorer itself.
Since then, Ford and Firestone have faced hundreds of lawsuits resulting from accidents attributed to the Explorer's design and/or the tendency of the tread on certain Firestone models to separate.
Turner, who has specialized in Explorer rollover cases for ten years, said the jury "put zero percent of the fault on Brian Cole and 100 percent of the fault on Ford Motor Co. for a defective and unreasonably dangerous vehicle."
Ford denies liability
Despite the settlement, Ford remains adamant that the accident was a result of Cole's reckless driving, and continues to insist that he wasn't wearing his seat belt.
Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans accused the court of denying Ford "a fair trial by excluding evidence that the jury should have heard and considered about Brian's driving and the speculative nature of plaintiffs' claims."
"Brian Cole had been driving over 80 mph when he drifted off road for unknown reasons, suddenly turned his steering wheel 295 degrees, lost control, and caused the vehicle to roll over more than three times," Evans said. "He was not wearing his safety belt and died after being ejected from the vehicle. His passenger, who was properly belted, walked away from the accident."
Earlier settlement
Interestingly, though, in January Ford settled another lawsuit alleging failure of an Explorer seatbelt during a crash. In that case, plaintiff Lynn Wheeler was riding in the center rear seat of an Explorer when the car was rear-ended, allegedly causing the latch to malfunction. The seat collapsed on top of Wheeler, who was thrown into the center console and paralyzed from the neck down.
Wheeler's attorneys said Ford knew the center rear lap belt was defective, but put off fixing it in the interest of saving money. That case, too, was settled after the jury handed down a verdict but before it decided on possible punitive damages.
