The $13 Million Dollar Ford Motors Case

By Author: Ivan Cuxeva Jr
Total Articles: 782
Comment this article

Cases that go on for years tend to be big news once they get fully investigated and a jury arrives to a conclusion based upon all the evidence brought to the court room. The American legal system is one of the best in the world however it is not perfect and when it comes to cases which handles matters of laws things can get pretty complicated and legal battles can extend for years. Lets take a look at a recent case which has grabbed people's attention due to the parties involved and because this case had to be handled by the supreme court of Georgia.

It was February of 1999 when Anne M. Gibson was traveling through Clarke County driving her 1985 Mercury Marquis, all of the sudden the owner of a Toyota truck hit the back of her vehicle causing a fire which ultimately killed Anne. Normal death conditions taking in consideration this was a car accident, this is what some people think however the investigation presented by James E. Butler and the plaintiff shed new light as to the reason this accident resulted in a fiery car crash which took the life of Anne.

The parties involved in such case were Ford Motors, ...
... the co-defendant Draw-Tile (a company which manufactures trailer hitches) and obviously the husband of the victim. The argument presented by the plaintiff's attorney was that the way Anne's car was designed made the gas tank very vulnerable during a rear collision, the co-defendant Draw-Tile was involved because the trailer hitch which was present during the time of the accident had dangerous bolts which may have punctured the tank which ultimately resulted in an intense fire.

After a prolonged deliberation the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the 13 million dollar judgment against this giant automotive company which refused to produce to the plaintiffs lawyers a set of crash test results. This case was decided in March 28, 2008 and shall be referred to as the "Ford Motor Company vs Gibson" case.

Georgia Supreme Court Justices had to handle the case due to the number of appeals filed by the plaintiff. This just comes to show that big companies can take a case to the bitter end regardless of human loss, fortunately for Mr. Gibson the Justices agreed with previous court rulings.