Jason Frede and Alicia Frede v. Ford Motor Company et al.
Confidential Settlement
Plaintiffs alleged serious injuries resulting from multiple design features of the Ford Explorer. In addition to the rollover issues often associated with the Explorer, this case involved a claim for Ford’s defective design of the vehicle’s door latch system. As the vehicle rolled over on the highway, both doors flew open, causing the occupants to be thrown about, held in the car only by their seat belts (both occupants were wearing seat belts). Both Plaintiffs sustained their injuries as a result of the doors coming open.
The context of this suit and settlement includes the following:
I. SETTLEMENTFord agreed to settle Plaintiffs’ claims on the first day of trial (Monday October 3, 2005).Through discovery, Plaintiffs obtained evidence that Ford was aware that the doors on the Explorer could come open during accidents due to Ford’s decision to use a stiff compression rod design to connect the inside door handle to the door latch. Plaintiffs also obtained evidence that Ford had also developed a safer door latch design utilizing cheap flexible cables, but decided not to use this alternative design in the Explorer.Two weeks prior to trial, the Court denied Ford’s Motion for Summary Judgment regarding Plaintiffs’ punitive damages claim, which would have allowed Plaintiffs to present their claim for punitive damages at this products liability trial.II. FACTS, PARTIES AND ISSUES.Jason was driving his 1997 two-door Ford Explorer and his sister Ally Frede was riding in the front passenger seat. After over-steering, the Explorer started rolling over. Jason and Ally suffered serious injuries when both doors of the Explorer flew open, causing them to partially eject while the Explorer was rolling over. The accident happened on July 13, 1997, in Callaway County, Missouri.Plaintiffs filed their case in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, alleging that Ford’s use of stiff compression rods to connect the inside handle to the Explorer’s door latch was defective, in that a slight compression of either door could allow the door to come open during a rollover. Plaintiffs also alleged that the Explorer was defective and unreasonably dangerous because it was inherently unstable and prone to roll over.The Explorer involved in this accident was destroyed before the Plaintiffs first contacted the law firm of Simon Passanante. Ford had argued that without the vehicle, it would be impossible to establish how the doors opened. In the absence of the vehicle Plaintiffs planned to present their design defect case against Ford through the use of photographic evidence, Ford’s own documents and expert testimony.
The accident occurred while Jason and Ally Frede were returning from a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. The Explorer had been purchased approximately six months prior to the incident. Jason’s sister Ally was riding in the passenger seat. Both Ally and Jason were wearing seatbelts. At the time of the rollover, Rick Frede (their father) was driving his car immediately in front of Jason while Kathy Frede (their mother) was following the Explorer in her separate vehicle.
Just east of Kingdom City, the Ford Explorer left the innermost lane of traffic and traveled into the grass median separating the two directions of traffic. The Explorer traveled through the entire median into the innermost west bound lane of traffic. At this point, Jason turned the Explorer to re-enter the grass median to avoid oncoming traffic. The Explorer oversteered, however, and began to roll over in the west bound lanes of Highway 70. The Explorer completed three or four rolls before striking an oncoming vehicle. During the rollover, both doors came open. Deidre Killgore, a witness to the rollover, described seeing the passenger door open during the rollover and noticed Ally’s arms and legs outside the vehicle.
After watching Jason’s Explorer leave the eastbound lane of traffic, Rick Frede ran to the scene. He found the Ford Explorer on its wheels and both doors were open. He assisted cutting off Ally’s seatbelt.
Jason and Alicia Frede each suffered severe and permanent injuries as a result of the doors of the Explorer opening during the rollover. Among other injuries, Jason suffered a severe fracture to his C5-C6 vertebrate. Ally suffered severe inter-abdominal injuries, rib fractures, a lacerated spleen and a compression fracture of her L-2 vertebrate. She underwent 24 surgeries following the accident. Plaintiffs’ biomechanical expert, Dr. Joseph Burton, testified that neither Jason nor Ally would have suffered serious injuries had the doors of the Ford Explorer not come open during the rollover.
III. Plaintiffs’ Theories of Liability
Plaintiffs pursued two theories of liability:
1. Ford’s use of compression rods in the doors of the Explorer was defective and unreasonably dangerous because slight compression of the rods could cause the doors to open during a rollover; and
2. The Explorer was inherently unstable and prone to rollover.
A. The Ford Explorer door system was defective because it used compression rods.
The Explorer utilized compression rods to connect the interior door handles and exterior door handles to the door latch. Through discovery, Plaintiffs obtained evidence that even a small amount of horizontal travel of the rods would cause the door to come open during a rollover or crash.
Using Ford’s records, plaintiffs determined that Ford had known of this danger for more than a decade prior to manufacturer the Explorer in question. Plaintiffs had additional evidence that Ford had developed an alternate system that used flexible cables in the doors, but Ford refused to implement this alternative in many of its vehicles due to cost.
Plaintiffs obtained evidence that Ford kept the compression rod system in the Explorer until the 2002 model year, when Ford finally changed adopted the cable system. Ten years earlier, Ford had begun utilizing this cable system on the Ford Ranger light truck and a wide variety of other vehicles.
B. The Ford Explorer was inherently unstable.
Plaintiffs also argued that the 1997 Ford Explorer had a dangerous propensity to roll over. Through discovery, Plaintiffs obtained evidence that Ford was aware of the poor rollover performance of the Explorer.
Through discovery, plaintiffs demonstrated that this rollover problem dated from prior to 1991.
Jason Frede and Alicia Frede v. Ford Motor Company, et al.
I. General
Type of Action:
Products Liability – Two design defects alleged:
1. The Explorer’s door latch system design allowed its doors to open during rollover; and
2. The Explorer had a dangerous propensity to roll over.
Type of Injuries:
Ally Frede suffered severe inter-abdominal injuries, rib fractures, spleen laceration and a compression fracture of her L-2 vertebrate. Her medical bills exceeded $880,000.00.
Jason Frede suffered severe fracture to his C5-C6 vertebrate. His past medical bills were in excess of $140,000.00.
Caption:
Jason Frede and Alicia Frede v. Ford Motor Company and Pundmann Ford, Inc.
Judge, Jury or ADR:
Settlement with Ford Motor Company and Pundmann Ford, Inc. on October 3, 2005.
Name of Judge:
Judge Timothy Wilson, Division 23, Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis.
Verdict or Settlement Amount:
Confidential Settlement
