In the United States, an interim result has been reached in a high-profile trial: Colorado resident Laurell Thompson won her case against the auto giant. The Ford concern was ordered to pay $56,575,000 to the American woman, and another $45 million would be a fine to the state. Authorities believed a vehicle malfunction was to blame for Ms. Thompson’s serious injuries in December 2016.
The incident is ambiguous: on December 27, 2016, an American woman caught a mailbox and was going to inspect the damage. While getting out of her 1998 Ford Expedition, Laurell Thompson slipped and fell on her back directly under the left front tire. At that moment, the SUV suddenly backed up, ran over the woman’s leg and broke the tibia and fibula.
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The plaintiff argued that Ford knew about a transmission defect in Expedition SUVs; similar problems arose on other models back in the 1980s. The auto giant insisted that Laurell Thompson forgot to put the car selector into parking mode and accidentally fell under the car due to her own negligence. The Blue Oval representative told reporters that Ford “respects the court’s decision” but believes the verdict is not supported by evidence.
Ford’s lawyers will consider filing an appeal, because the court’s decision means that the auto giant will have to part with hundreds of millions of dollars! Interestingly, Ford wanted to move the case to its state of Michigan, but in the end the process took place in Colorado, where the plaintiff lived.
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