Update: Ford Settles our of court Jury finds Ford guilty in Montana crash case

[Byteme]

What was the jury thinking when they came up with this verdict?

Jury finds Ford at fault in MT crash case

Jury finds Ford at fault for tire defects that caused crash that paralyzed MT man

Associated Press ?  

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- A Montana jury has found defects in a tire sold by the Ford Motor Company were a factor in a 2003 Ford Bronco crash in which a Cascade County suffered a brain injury and was paralyzed.

The Great Falls Tribune (http://bit.ly/KdYeQC ) reports jurors voted 11-1 Wednesday in favor of Bryan Mizenko, who sued Ford, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Pete's Auto of Great Falls. Firestone and Pete's Auto settled their portions of the case. The damage phase of the trial was to begin Thursday.

Mizenko's lawsuit alleges the tread belt separated from his left rear Firestone tire, causing his 1989 Ford Bronco to crash.

Ford argued the tire failed because it was 14 years old, had been punctured, had damage to the bead and steel belt and was underinflated.

[S204STi]

w0w.  Retarded jurors.

[cawimmer430]

Since when does Ford produce tires?  

*Sarcasm*

[shp4man]

Shit like this causes higher car prices for new car buyers. I say appeal the case.

[Byteme]

Well, it's simply proof positive that juries love to give away corporate money no matter how bogus the claim.  Come on, look at the sentience I put in bold, the guy was running a 14 year old, damaged tire underinflated; he was asking for trouble.

[Raza]

Well, it's simply proof positive that juries love to give away corporate money no matter how bogus the claim.  Come on, look at the sentience I put in bold, the guy was running a 14 year old, damaged tire underinflated; he was asking for trouble.

Exactly.  And this is evidence to me that corporations should not be legal entities.  Much like road rage therapy revolves around reminding the rager that the cars are being driven by people, people need to be reminded that the large, faceless, and evil corporations are mostly just made of people trying to get to work, get home, and spend time with their families.  The legal separation should not exist.

[SVT666]

This is bullshit.  Isn't there a provision in the judicial code that allows a judge to overrule the jury if their judgment is blatantly wrong?  I thought I've heard of that happening before.

[cawimmer430]

This reminds me, I need to go out and buy new summer tires for the BMW. I'm still using the original tires the car came with in 2007 and I noticed today that holy shit, I have such a low and used profile (from all the Autobahn speeding and long distance driving) on them. They won't pass the next T?V inspection in July! Shit.

[TurboDan]

If those tires really lasted 14 years, sounds like they were pretty damn good tires. 

[Byteme]

If those tires really lasted 14 years, sounds like they were pretty damn good tires. 

The issue with old tires isn't treadwear, its failure of the tire's structure and changing of the tire tread compound.   It's a common problem on cars that that aren't driven frequently, like restored classics.   I once had a set of Pirellis on the Jaguar that had about 50% of the tread left, but handled like crap and started vibrating like mad at speed; they were 7 years old and started failing.

See:  http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

Now add in that the guy was driving on a previously damaged underinflated tire.    

[RomanChariot]

I had a tire blow on my travel trailer on the first outing that I took it on. It turned out that they were 10 years old (same age as trailer) but they still had over 50% of their tread. I replaced all of the tires after that. The recommended serviceable age for trailer tires is 6 years.

On a weird side note, the trailer had one tire that was on a 14 inch wheel and the rest were 15 inch wheels. The wheel style was the same and the tire had the same date stamp. It appears that it came from the factory with the wrong wheel and tire on it. I corrected that as well.

[FoMoJo]

I wouldn't trust a jury to return an objective verdict.  It's about time they were obsoleted.

[J86]

This is bullshit.  Isn't there a provision in the judicial code that allows a judge to overrule the jury if their judgment is blatantly wrong?  I thought I've heard of that happening before.

Directed verdict.

Cases like this are the aberration.  Also, note that damages haven't been awarded.  Why don't we wait and see if they're anything other than nominal.

[Mustangfan2003]

A 2003 Bronco you say?

[MX793]

A 2003 Bronco you say?

The Bronco was an '89, the crash happened in '03.

[Byteme]

Ford settled out of court, settlement sealed.  Looks like the typical kind of lawsuit brought about just to get the company to pay something to make the problem go away. 



..Ford settles lawsuit over 2003 crash in Montana
Ford settles lawsuit over 2003 crash that left Montana man paralyzed, brain damaged

Associated Press ? 8 minutes ago
....

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company that alleged defects in tires on the Ford Bronco II were a substantial factor in a crash that left a Montana man paralyzed and with cognitive impairment.

The Great Falls Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/JjjxnE ) terms of the settlement with Bryan Mizenko have been sealed.

Last month, a jury in Cascade County voted 11-1 that defects in a Firestone tire were a factor in a 2003 crash. Both Firestone and the used car dealer where Mizenko bought the vehicle settled out of court.

Mizenko argued the accident was one of several caused by tread belt separation on this type of Firestone tire.

Ford argued that Mizenko's tire failed because it was 14 years old and had been damaged.