$17,700,000 Jury Verdict – Automobile Product Liability
In November 2009, Alan Hamilton served as co-counsel in a three-week product liability trial in Clayton County, Georgia. The Plaintiffs’ trial team obtained a $17-plus-million dollar compensatory damages verdict for their clients. The jury also decided to award additional, punitive damages against the defendant product manufacturer, Ford Motor Company. While the jury was out deciding the number of punitive damages, Ford settled the case for a confidential amount. Plaintiff was involved in a head-on wreck on Christmas Day 2005 and suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Plaintiff alleged and proved at trial that her injuries were caused by her defective rear seat restraint system and lap-only seat belt, which failed and allowed her to jackknife over her seat belt during the wreck and strike the front seatback. Defendants were represented by two international corporate defense law firms. The verdict was $12,716,401 to Plaintiff and an additional $5 million to her husband for loss of consortium, for a total of $17,716,401.
