Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

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The Brian Cole verdict against Ford Motor Co. is on the front page of today's Clarion-Ledger. Here is the article. A Ford spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying that the trial was unfair.

Judge Billy Joe Landrum was the trial judge and he conducted the trial in Laurel with a Paulding jury. The article identifies Tab Turner from Arkansas as the lead plaintiff lawyer. Barry Ford and Bill Jones of Baker Donelson in Jackson defended the case with Ford's national roll-over counsel. I am not a fan of the national defense counsel model in Mississippi, but I'll save that discussion for another day.  

The verdict was $131 million for Cole (who died) and $1.5 for the passenger of the Ford Explorer (Cole's cousin who survived). The two were in a roll-over accident on I-10 in Florida. Yea, I know: what was the trial doing with a Paulding jury? There was a venue hook somehow.

Yesterday after the verdict came down I received  numerous reports on it that placed the verdict range from $130 million to $235 million. A Ridgeland attorney with absolutely no connection to the case or involved law firms was the only person to provide the exact correct breakdown of the verdict.

The case settled before entering the punitive damages phase. Ford is getting second guessed for settling the case, but I don't have a problem with it conceptually. Since I do not know the amount of the settlement, I can only comment in general terms.

First, a punitive verdict in the case could have easily been over $100 million in addition to the compensatory verdict.

Second, this was the third trial. Ford has probably already spent $30-$50 million in defense costs and expenses. The result of a winning appeal would likely be the chance to try the case again, presumably before the same judge and another Paulding jury. Ford's cost for the appeal and re-trying the case would likely be in the $5-$10 million range. 

So if the Plaintiffs discounted the verdict to settle the case,  Ford might have felt that settlement was the best business decision. 

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The Clarion-Ledger reports today on a $19 million jury verdict rendered yesterday in Hinds County against Chevron. The five plaintiffs claimed that exposure to leaded gasoline fumes at a building where they worked caused their children to be born with disabilities. The case was a Jefferson County case in which venue was transferred to Hinds County.

The C-L article explains:

All the women were pregnant when they worked in the old Jefferson County office building in Fayette, which previously was a gas station affiliated with Texaco Inc.

The women sued Texaco, which merged with Chevron Corp. in 2001, saying they were exposed to leaded gasoline fumes from tanks left in the ground when the former gas station was renovated.

Loraine Simon's 20-year-old daughter, Rosalyn, is severely mentally disabled, and the children of the other women suffer from respiratory conditions and learning disabilities.

After the two-week trial, the jury awarded Simon, the lead plaintiff, $15 million.

The trial was moved from Jefferson County to Hinds County on a change of venue request by Texaco because the women were known or worked in the county.

Chevron will appeal:

"Texaco intends to appeal today's verdict, which we believe is contrary to the evidence and law," Texaco attorney Bill Jones III said. "Texaco never owned, operated or controlled the service station or the underground storage tanks at issue. We believe there is no evidence that in any way links Texaco to claims made by plaintiffs."

Dennis Sweet tried the case for the plaintiffs. I do not know who worked up the case. Bill Jones and Barry Ford from Baker Donelson tried the case for Chevron. They have tried a lot of cases in the last ten years and have rarely lost. I was very surprised to hear that they defended a case with that high of a verdict. Judge Lamar Pickard was the trial judge.

I know very little about the case other than what is in the newspaper. But it seems like the verdict will be hard to keep on appeal. Chevron, Exxon, Shell, etc. do not own the gas stations where their gas is sold. The same applies for many businesses that operate under franchise or license agreements. In those situations, the franchisor/ licensor is typically not legally responsible for something that occurs on the premises. Perhaps something was different about this case—perhaps not. If not, this could be a reversed and rendered decision on appeal.

Another question is whether the verdict is subject to Mississippi’s tort reform caps. The article suggests not when it says that the women originally sued Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001. This suggests that the case was filed before tort reform laws passed.

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No, that's not a typo. Ford Motor Co. got a defense verdict in Jefferson County today at the conclusion of a two week trial.  

 The plaintiff was a passenger who was paralyzed in a roll-over of a Ford Explorer that was pulling a trailer. The driver of the Explorer passed out from hypoglycemia and ran off the road. Plaintiff's defect allegation was instability of the vehicle and that the seat belt did not work properly. The plaintiff asked for $9.5 million in closing.  

Barry Ford, Bill Jones and Everett White at Baker Donelson were among a team of lawyers representing Ford. Plaintiff's counsel were lawyers from South Carolina and New Orleans. Plaintiff had Deborah McDonald as local counsel, but it's my understanding that she was not brought in until shortly before trial.