Articles Posted in SUV Rollovers

Ford Motor Company has agreed to an out-of court settlement in an automobile defect/rollover accident case that we have been pursuing for our client, Gloria Levesque. She was seriously injured in a Ford Expedition rollover accident five years ago and rendered quadriplegic. The initial trial in Los Angeles Superior Court lasted three weeks and ended in a hung jury last December.

Of course, we’re pleased that Ford decided to settle with our client for an amount that is being kept confidential pursuant to Ford’s condition of settlement. But the more important fact in this case is that Ford’s top officials know – and have known for a very long time – that the roofs of their sport utility vehicles leave much to be desired in terms of strength. What happened to our client has happened to thousands of others.

The roofs of Ford’s SUVs such as the Explorer and Expedition are made so weak that they cave in during a rollover accident. Gloria’s accident happened on the 5 Freeway in Fresno County. She was a passenger in the vehicle. The driver swerved to avoid a collision, lost control of the vehicle, which rolled over many times. The Expedition roof collapsed and crushed inward causing her severe head and spinal injuries leaving her quadriplegic.

One man died and four Fresno State football players were injured after their car veered off Highway 99 in Selma and rolled over. Terren Hall, 18, the only one who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, died in the crash after he was ejected from the 1998 Ford during the rollover crash. According to an article posted on the local ABC News Web site, investigators are looking into whether the driver lost control of the vehicle because a big-rig may have cut him off.

Those injured were the driver Jermaine C. Thomas, 19, of Duarte; Isian Green, 18, Sharrod Davis, 22 and Terrance Dennis, 19 – all football players from Cal State Fresno, the Fresno Bee newspaper reports. Thomas was reportedly the one who told investigators that the big-rig cut him off and sent him careening off the roadway.
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A 52-year-old Costa Mesa woman is dead after she was ejected from her Jeep Wrangler, which rolled over on the northbound 5 Freeway near Avenida Vaquero in San Clemente, The Orange County Register reports. Gloria Ann Weaver reportedly died in the rollover accident. Officials are still not clear what caused the accident and why the vehicle flipped, the article states.

There is no mention in the article whether or not she was wearing a seatbelt. Officials are still investigating, but I hope they don’t jump to the conclusion that she was not wearing a seatbelt just because she was ejected from the vehicle. Many times traffic accident reports will jump to the conclusion that an ejected occupant of a vehicle in an accident wasn’t wearing a seatbelt simply because they were ejected.

Our law firm has been involved with dozens of auto accident cases where an official accident report states that an ejected person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, yet our experts on close examination of the involved seatbelt system, found evidence of use at the time of the accident and/or failure of the system. My partner, Brian Chase, is one of the most knowledgeable seatbelt failure attorneys in the country. Personal injury attorneys from all over the country consult with him on their seatbelt failure cases.
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Officials suspect it could’ve been caused by road rage or street racing

A 29-year-old woman was killed after her 1999 Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle veered off the 15 Freeway in Fontana, causing her car to flip several times. According to an article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the crash was reportedly caused by road rage or street racing.

The newspaper reported that Lauda Young, 28, and Maxine Ferry, 29, were both driving in separate vehicles south on the 15 Freeway. According to eyewitness accounts, both women were traveling at a high rate of speed – 80 to 85 miles an hour. At one point, Young cut off Ferry with her 2004 Toyota Corolla in the slow lane leaving no more than three to five feet between the two vehicles, the article stated.

Ferry was forced into the dirt on the right shoulder because Young was tapping on her brakes while driving in front of Ferry, California Highway Patrol officials said. It was then that the Explorer veered back on to the road and began to fishtail. But at this point the Explorer was reportedly way out of control. Back on the shoulder, the SUV rolled over three or four times before it came to a stop.
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Gloria Levesque is getting her day in court today. Gloria was catastrophically injured in an auto accident when the Ford Expedition she was a passenger in rolled over and the roof caved in crushing her. As a result of the roof crushing in on her, Gloria suffered severe head and spinal injuries. She is permanently disabled.

The auto product liability lawsuit, Gloria Levesque vs. Ford Motor Company, started today, December 3, 2007, in Los Angeles Superior Court, Central District, before the Honorable Ricardo Torres. Brian Chase, my partner and chief litigator for the firm, is heading Gloria’s trial team.

Mr. Chase will offer evidence that Ford knowingly manufactured and sold the Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle (SUV) with a defective roof that collapses during rollover accidents. Gloria Levesque, was permanently paralyzed on July 25, 2003 when the Expedition she was a passenger in swerved to avoid a collision with a big rig and the Expedition rolled over several times. During the rollover, the roof crushed inward, causing her permanent head and spinal injuries.

Big news out of Sacramento came late Wednesday afternoon. Ford Motor Co., which was facing a humungous class-action lawsuit involving a million consumers from four states, announced that a settlement has been reached and awaits approval by the court (http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/529480.html).

So what’s the deal? Consumers, who said in this class-action lawsuit that they were duped by Ford’s claims that the Explorer sport utility vehicle was a safe vehicle, will now qualify to apply for $500 discounts on a new Ford Explorer or $300 discounts other Ford vehicles. The settlement will apply to Explorers from model years 1991 to 2001. The lawsuit was brought forth by 414,000 Explorer owners in California, Illinois, Texas and Connecticut.

Thousands of deaths and injuries over the last decade have been suffered by occupants of Ford Explorers involved in rollover accidents. We have represented many of the injured and their families. As an example, on Monday, we are scheduled to start a trial against Ford in Los Angeles Superior Court. We are alleging that one of Ford’s poorly designed SUVs rolled over in an accident and the roof crushed in, paralyzing a passenger, Gloria Levesque. Gloria was a Montessori school teacher for 25 years before being catastrophically injured and permanently unemployable as a result of the accident.

So, really, who benefits from this class action lawsuit settlement? Maybe the attorneys, definitely Ford – but what about the consumers? Let’s look a little closer. How does a measly $500 or $300 discount toward another Ford vehicle compensate consumer, punish the manufacturer and prevent unsafe products from entering the American market place?

Pedro Morillas of the California Public Interest Research Group (www.calpirg.org) is quoted in a Sacramento Bee article as saying,” Five hundred million dollars does sound like a lot of money, but Ford may have gotten a better deal than they deserved.”

In some respects I agree with Morillas. If the case had not settled and the plaintiffs won, Ford, according to its lawyers, would be in bankruptcy. It may not have been able to pay the judgment. It that sense Ford may have gotten a better deal than they deserve.

This lawsuit should’ve aimed to make sure that Ford was punished for producing defective vehicles and ensure that no auto manufacturer in the future would dare market an unsafe product to the American public. To take it further, it should been a warning to every manufacturer that pushing any unsafe product into the American market place will not be tolerated and the manufacturer will be held accountable.
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Natasha Dannov, by all accounts a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky teenager from Fountain Valley, died early Sunday morning in an auto accident on the Interstate 5 when the 2000 Ford Explorer she was a passenger in, rolled over near Oceanside.

According to an article in The Orange County Register, Dannov’s best friend of 10 years, Marian Teri Kahale, also 18, who was driving the Explorer at the time, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular manslaughter.

The girls had reportedly gone to a party Saturday night at Mission Viejo where they had been drinking, according to Dannov’s mother, Isabelle, who was quoted in the Register article. Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, the teens were on their way home when Kahale realized she was heading south near Oceanside on the I-5 instead of north. It was around that time that Kahale reportedly lost control of the sport utility vehicle.

The Explorer careened off the freeway, overturned and struck a guardrail ejecting Dannov, who was sleeping in the car without wearing her seatbelt. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Camp Pendleton fire officials, the newspaper reported. Kahale survived with moderate injuries, but was arrested and detained with bail set at $250,000. The state Alcohol Beverages Control Board and the CHP are also reportedly looking into who provided alcohol to the teens over a 24-hour period before the crash. Both were obviously underage.

This is yet another tragic incident that is heartbreaking not only for the Dannov family, but also the Kahale family given how close the two girls were. It seems as if a lot of young people think they are invincible when it comes to drunk driving. There is the general feeling and attitude of: “It won’t happen to me” or “I can handle it.” These are but illusions. An impaired driver is just that – someone who will not be able to handle the vehicle and puts not only his or her life in jeopardy, but also the passengers riding with them as well as other drivers on the road.
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A Florida Appeals Court has overturned a record $60 million jury verdict awarded to the parents of a 17-year-old boy who died after the 1996 Ford Explorer he was a passenger in rolled over, according to a Bloomberg News report. Lance Hall’s parents claimed in their product liability lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. that the Explorer sport utility vehicle’s design defects made it unstable.

A Miami jury in November 2005 awarded the Halls $61 million, making it the largest award against an auto maker that year. The trial court reduced that award by $1 million, the news report said. But last week, the appellate court completely negated the jury award and ordered a new trial because the panel said the trial court erred in allowing the Halls’ attorneys to present evidence of deaths and injuries in other Explorer rollovers without having them show similarities between the different accidents, the Bloomberg report said.

The Hall family reportedly plans to appeal this decision to the Florida Supreme Court. The plaintiff’s attorney said that they are prepared to go back to the trial court and fight Ford all over again if the Supreme Court rejects their appeal or does not consider it. Ford maintains that Hall died not because of defects in the Explorer, but because the driver of the vehicle fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle.
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Here is a story that smells like an auto defect case. Friday morning, August 17th, a Plainview, Texas woman was killed in a single-car rollover accident in a 1992 GMC Jimmy according to an article on LubbuckOnline.com. The article quoted Cpl. John Gonzalez of the Department of Public Safety who said Elizabeth Ponce, 47 years old, was wearing a seatbelt when her GMC Jimmy skidded into a ditch and rolled twice, landing on its roof. He further stated that alcohol and weather were not believed to be factors in the accident.

GMC Jimmys are notoriously unstable. They roll over much too easily in situations where they should stay upright. They are unsafe. Our law firm has been successful in a slew of lawsuits against GMC regarding the rollover propensities of their SUVs. I have no idea how many other lawsuits there have been but I’d guess the number is in the hundreds.

OK, so the Jimmy rolled over. Why did Elizabeth Ponce die? She was not ejected. She was seat belted in.
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A 9-year-old Orange County girl was killed and seven others were critically injured after their Ford Expedition rolled over on a New Mexico highway, The Orange County Register reported. Cynthia Munoz of Santa Ana was pronounced dead on the scene and the other injured members were transported to local hospitals, the article said.

According to the news report, the driver of the 2003 Ford Expedition told officials that the vehicle began to “shake violently” and he lost control. The girl and her 15-year-old sister, neither wearing a seat belt (according to the report), were both ejected from the vehicle as it rolled over several times. Officials say neither speed nor alcohol seems to have played a role in this accident, the Register reported.

The Munoz family is going to need an expert analysis of what caused this accident to determine if it is the fault of the vehicle or one of its components. The “shaking violently” could be a tire separation, a wheel coming off, a suspension issue or a number of other less likely causes. Only through examination of the accident sequence and the vehicle its self can a determination of the likely causes for this accident be known.
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