As Ford Authority reported last week, Ford has been ordered to pay $57 million dollars to the plaintiff in the lawsuit Lorelle Thompson v. Ford Motor Company, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado back in 2018, claiming that Thompson – the owner of a 1998 Ford Expedition at that time – ran into a mailbox in 2016, after which she reportedly put the vehicle in park and exited it to survey the damage. It was then that she reportedly fell and was subsequently run over by her own SUV and suffered multiple injuries as a result. Now, Ford has chosen to appeal that verdict.
According to Automotive News, Ford has filed post-verdict motions to appeal the court’s decision in this case, which it reached after taking into consideration a known design defect in the Expedition’s shifting system at that time – a problem that reportedly stems all the way back to 1980, before the Expedition existed. “While our sympathies go out to Ms. Thompson and we respect the jury’s decision, we do not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence,” said Ford spokesman Richard Binhammer. “We have filed post-verdict motions that are currently pending before the court.”
Last year, Ford attorney Theresa Wardon Benz said that any injury or damage allegedly sustained by Thompson “was caused solely by her own negligence in exiting a running vehicle while it was in reverse, which the plaintiff admitted to second responders while she was still under the stress of excitement caused by the incident.”
The original lawsuit was dismissed in 2019 without prejudice, which allowed the plaintiff to take additional action. That’s precisely what she did, and the case went to trial back in April before a magistrate judge in Colorado. It took a jury a mere seven days to find Ford 100 percent liable in the lawsuit, after which The Blue Oval was ordered to pay $56,575,000.
We’ll have more on this and all of Ford’s legal cases soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford lawsuit news, Ford Expedition news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
I wish the owner the best of luck and hope she wins the lawsuit.
…the Owner was a complete fool for exiting the car while it was still in gear…hope Ford sues the hell out of her for false claims and collects a judgement from this individual…
Yes not to mention that her vehicle is 25 plus years old that had the malfunction the warranty has been gone years ago sounds like a setup to me she should always make sure the car is in park before getting out of it
Give me a break. The bushing were probably worn out to the point it won’t lock in park . Components in tail shaft where parking Pawl is . Maintance maintance Maintance.