The Brandi Law Firm is pleased to announce that Daniel Dell’Osso of the Brandi Law Firm along with Kevin Quinn of San Diego and James Doyal of Houston, Texas have obtained an $18,349,391 verdict against Ford Motor Company following a three-week trial before the Hon. Phyllis Hamilton in United States District Court in San Francisco. Finding the seat latch system of the rear seat defective in the Ford 350 Econo van, the jury held Ford 100% responsible.
Plaintiff Dax Pierson, a 34 year old musician with the band SUBTLE, was rendered a quadriplegic in a rollover accident when the 15-passenger Ford E 350 van rolled over on an icy road. The band was traveling in the Midwest from its show in Denver to its next show in Chicago when the accident occurred on I 80 in rural Iowa. Pierson, who was wearing his seat belt and seated in a rear passenger seat, was injured when his seat came loose from the floor of the van due to a defective locking mechanism, and his head was thrown into the roof, causing severe spinal cord injuries. Pierson was the only one of the seven people in the vehicle who was injured.
Ford appealed the verdict, complaining that there was not enough information for the jury to hold it responsible for Dax’s injuries. Judge Hamilton disagreed with Ford, and the Court of Appeal affirmed her decision upholding the verdict against Ford.
This verdict was the seventh highest verdict in 2009.
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