$2.5 Billion Verdict Reached In Ford Super Duty Roof Lawsuit

Ever since Ford was ordered to pay $1.7 billion in punitive damages back in 2022 over an allegation that the roofs present on 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty models aren’t strong enough to hold up in the event of a rollover crash – a decision that stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit originally filed in 2014 – the automaker has faced a seemingly endless stream of additional lawsuits pertaining to the same matter. Now, Ford has been dealt a massive financial blow in one of those same lawsuits.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a jury has ruled in favor of the plaintiff in this particular Ford Super Duty roof crush lawsuit, meaning that the automaker now owes the family of a deceased couple a whopping $2.5 billion – the largest such sum in Georgia state history, second only to its previous, aforementioned $1.7 billion dollar verdict. This particular crash occurred back in 2022, when a 2015 Ford Super Duty hit a driveway drainage culvert, went airborne, and rolled over onto its roof, crushing and killing the occupants.

“While our sympathies go out to the Brogdon family, the verdict is impermissibly extreme and not supported by the evidence,” a Ford spokesperson said of the decision. Ford continues to maintain that the roofs on these pickups are not defective – they did meet federal safety standards when those models were produced, but have since been strengthened – and added that it plans to appeal this decision.

Meanwhile, Ford is dealing with several other Super Duty roof crush lawsuits as well, including a consolidated suit filed in Michigan recently. However, the automaker has asked the court to dismiss that lawsuit on the grounds that none of the Super Duty owners that are plaintiffs have been involved in a crash in which the roof collapsed. One plaintiff alleges that their son was involved in such a crash back in 2011, but he wasn’t injured, and the plaintiff purchased a similar truck later on that they still own today.