Greenville, SC
Jury Awards Upstate Family $18M

Aug 7, 2006 08:22 AM

A Greenville County jury handed down an $18 million dollar verdict in a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company.

The jury awarded $15 million dollars to Sonya Watson and another $3 million to the estate of Patricia Carter.

A wreck on Interstate 385 in Laurens County back in 1999 left Watson paralyzed and killed passenger Patricia Carter.

Attorneys for Carter and Watson say the 1995 Ford Explorer, Watson was driving started accelerating by itself, causing her to loose control.

The jury found Ford Motor Company was negligent and breached its warranty for putting a defective speed control system in the 1995 Explorers.

Sonya Watson told FOX Carolina, "I can never put a price tag on my legs or to be walking again."

One of plaintiff's lawyers Wally Fayssoux says, "Ford has never done an investigation in the U.S. on sudden acceleration problems and it's a problem that exist and a problem they know is there, but it's only one they have addressed in Europe."

The verdict was for actual damages; there were no punitive damages awarded

We have no word yet on whether Ford Motor Company plans to appeal.