An Alabama man was award $151.8 million in damages after the 1998 Ford Explorer he was riding in rolled over twice, leaving him paralyzed.
A Selma, Alabama, man left paralyzed as a result of a 2015 rollover accident in a 1998 Ford Explorer was awarded $151.8 million in damages by an Alabama jury.
The jury awarded Travaris Smith $100 million in punitive damages and $51.8 million in compensatory damages after finding on Friday that the 1998 Ford Explorer did not meet Ford’s own safety guidelines and that Ford “acted wantonly” in designing the vehicle, according to a court document seen by Reuters and Smith’s lawyers.
Smith was riding in the SUV when its driver swerved to avoid an animal and the vehicle rolled over twice, attorneys at law firms Beasley Allen and Gamble, Gamble, Calame and Jones said in a statement. He snapped his spine and is now paralyzed.
Ford, which has redesigned the Explorer since 1998, said it plans to appeal.
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“Our sympathy goes out to Travaris Smith and his family. At the same time, we disagree with the jury’s conclusion in this case as well as with a series of rulings by the Alabama court that kept the jury from hearing critical evidence – and will appeal,” Ford spokeswoman Monique Brentley said in a statement to Reuters.
Ford Motor Co. plans to appeal the lawsuit filed by Travaris Smith, who was award $151.8 million in damages.
Kendall Dunson, an attorney at Montgomery, Alabama-based Beasley Allen, which represented Smith, said the decision will give Smith access to home care and assistance.
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“We represent a 24-year-old young man who cannot be left alone to care for himself in any way,” Dunson said in a release announcing the decision. “This verdict represents justice for Tre and his family.”
Smith’s attorneys said engineers at Ford advised the company to change the design, but that it instead changed the testing process and destroyed data from the original testing. LaBarron Boone, an attorney at Beasley Allen, which represented Smith, said the verdict should act as a warning to any automakers contemplating destroying evidence, in this case test results.
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“We have seen bad conduct before but the egregiousness of Ford’s scheme to mislead the jury was stunning,” Boone said in a release.