Ford will appeal $1.7 billion verdict resulting from fatal crash in Georgia
Melvin and Voncile Hill were riding in their 2002 Ford F-250 in April 2014 when they died in a rollover wreck
Ford Motor Co. said Sunday it plans to appeal the $1.7 billion verdict against it that came after a pickup truck crash in Georgia killed two people.
A Gwinnett County jury delivered the verdict last week in the multi-year-long civil case over the roofs of Ford pickup trucks that the plaintiffs’ legal team called dangerously defective.
Melvin and Voncile Hill were riding in their 2002 Ford F-250 in April 2014 when they died in a rollover wreck. Their children, Kim and Adam Hill, were the plaintiffs in the wrongful death case.
"While our sympathies go out to the Hill family, we do not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we plan to appeal," Ford said in a statement.
US OPENS PROBE INTO 1.7 MILLION FORD VEHICLES OVER BRAKE HOSE RECALL
Ford Motor Co. said Sunday it plans to appeal the $1.7 billion verdict against it that came after two people were killed in a rollover crash in Georgia. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File / Associated Press)
The plaintiffs' lawyer James Butler Jr. said he was shocked by the evidence presented against Ford in the case, and called the roofs of the truck "weak."
"I used to buy Ford trucks," Butler said Sunday. "I thought nobody would sell a truck with a roof this weak. The damn thing is useless in a wreck. You might as well drive a convertible."
Ford's lawyers defended the automobile manufacturer and its engineers during closing arguments.
The company railed against accusations "that Ford and 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," defense lawyer William Withrow Jr. said in his closing remarks.
FORD F-150 LIGHTNING GETS BIG PRICE HIKE AS ORDER BOOK REOPENS
The plaintiffs' lawyer James Butler Jr. said he was shocked by the evidence presented against Ford in the case. (MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Another defense lawyer, Paul Malek, said in the same closing argument that it is "simply not the case" that Ford was irresponsible and willfully made decisions that put customers at risk.
The plaintiffs' lawyers had submitted evidence of nearly 80 similar rollover wrecks involving truck roofs being crushed, leading to injuries or deaths of drivers, Butler's law firm, Butler Prather LLP, said in a statement.
"More deaths and severe injuries are certain because millions of these trucks are on the road," Butler's co-counsel, Gerald Davidson, said in the statement.
Ford's lawyers defended the automobile manufacturer and its engineers during closing arguments. (Getty Images)
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Butler 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."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.