Jury Awards $18 Million in Explorer Wreck Case

GREENVILLE (AP) - A Greenville jury awarded $18 million in a lawsuit against Ford Motor Co., saying the company had a defective speed-control system in a 1995 Ford Explorer that crashed December 1999, killing one woman and paralyzing another.

Sonya Watson, who was 17 at the time of the crash, got $15 million. The jury awarded $3 million to the estate of Patricia Carter, who was killed in the crash on Interstate 385 in Laurens County.

"I don't think it will ever be a fair amount because I can't put a price on my legs," said Watson who sat outside the courtroom in a motorized wheelchair. "Finally I can get this behind me. I hope Ford has learned a lesson."

Watson's attorneys had argued that the SUV "took off" while she was driving down the interstate.

Attorney J. Edward Bell, III, who has offices in Sumter and Georgetown, was part of the plaintiff's legal team. The case was heart rendering he said, because of the injuries stemming from a crash that could have been prevented with a fix that cost pennies.

All electrical systems have power surges, he said, but most build in a protection against spikes. The cruise control in the 1995 Ford Explorer, however, didn't have such built-in protection, he said.

"They have chosen, in spite of their own internal standards, not to protect against them," he said.

The lawsuits also had claimed that Ford and TRW Vehicle Safety Systems had installed defective seatbelts, but jurors rejected that argument.

In closing arguments, Ford attorney Alan Thomas said there was no credible physical evidence that Carter or Watson were wearing seatbelts.

Adam Fox, an attorney for TRW, also said there was no evidence of defect in the seatbelt and that it is the most widely used buckle in history and is still being produced today.

Bell said he doesn't know why the jury didn't believe the women were wearing seatbelts, but he respects its decision.

The jury said its award was for actual damages and did not award punitive damages.

Carter's father, Renard Simpson, wiped tears from his eyes in the court hallway after the verdict.

"I don't know how to feel right now," he said. "Right now, I'm just in a state of shock. I'm just glad for it to be over with."

Bell said Ford has fixed the problem in some vehicles, like the 1998 Explorer and the 1994 F150, but not all models.

"Why they didn't do it for the '95 to '97 Explorer is beyond me. If they had done that, Ms. Carter would certainly be alive today," Bell said.

He noted that Ford recalled vehicles for the same problem in the United Kingdom several years ago.

- Item Staff Writer Leslie Contu contributed to this report