A West Virginia jury dominated Tuesday that Ford Motor Co. have to shell out $7 million to the loved ones of a 19-year-aged lady who was killed in a 2016 accident involving her Ford Mustang.
In accordance to the accommodate, a pickup struck the 2014 Mustang, which subsequently caught fire, and Breanna Bumgarner was ultimately killed.
The lawsuit, submitted in February 2018 in Charleston, W.Va., alleged the Mustang was “defectively developed hence creating an unreasonable propensity to ignite into flames below standard and foreseeable working conditions.”
According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the jury dominated Ford was 99 per cent at fault for Bumgarner’s death simply because the Mustang did not moderately avoid leakage from the brake fluid reservoir through the crash. The jury reserved the remaining 1 % of fault for the driver who struck the Mustang.
Mike Andrews, an lawyer symbolizing Bumgarner’s family members, wrote in an electronic mail to Automotive Information that Ford knowingly hid vital security information about the 2005-14 Mustang.
“These problems are indications of the bigger problem: the 2005-2014 Mustang is not crashworthy and was not created to thoroughly safeguard occupants or safeguard from identified fireplace hazards,” Andrews wrote.
Ford spokesperson Ian Thibodeau wrote in an electronic mail that the business was considering its selections.
“Even though our sympathies go out to Ms. Bumgarner’s family members and we respect the jury’s decision, we do not consider the verdict is supported by the evidence,” Thibodeau wrote. “We will critique solutions for attraction.”