Howard Rice Successfully Represents Paraplegic Victim As Supreme Court Upholds $55 Million Award Against Ford Motor Co.

For Immediate Release:

For more information contact:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 30, 2009 – After five years of appeals, this morning the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to Ford Motor Co.’s effort to set aside a $55 million punitive damages award against it in Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Co.  With interest on the judgment, the amount Ford will be required to pay is now nearly $88 million.

“With such a large amount of money at stake,” said the Plaintiffs’ lead appellate counsel, Jerome B. Falk, Jr. of San Francisco’s Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, “Ford aggressively prosecuted the appeal with extremely capable counsel, including former Solicitor General Ted Olson.  It is gratifying to have the punitive damages award upheld.” 

Falk added “Although it is a large award, it is fully justified by Ford’s marketing of a vehicle with known defects creating a high risk of death or serious injury to its occupants even though the vehicle could have been made safe at a modest cost.”

Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Co. involved a 1997 Ford Explorer that rolled over on dry pavement when the driver, plaintiff Benetta Buell-Wilson, braked and swerved to avoid an obstruction in the roadway.  The vehicle’s roof caved in and the plaintiff was severely injured, leaving her a paraplegic.  The California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, affirmed a $27 million compensatory damages award, which has since been paid.  It also upheld a $55 million punitive damages award—the largest such award upheld in a California published appellate decision.

Ford appealed that award to the U.S. Supreme Court twice.  The first time resulted in a remand for reconsideration in light of an intervening case; the California appellate court reaffirmed its prior decision and found that any issues arising out of that case had been waived by Ford. 

Ford again sought review in the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the California punitive damages statute—as applied in this case—is unconstitutionally vague and uncertain.  This morning, the Supreme Court denied Ford’s petition for a writ of certiorari, thereby ending the litigation.

Plaintiffs were represented at trial by San Diego attorneys Dennis A. Schoville and Louis G. Arnell of Schoville & Arnell LLP and on appeal by Jerome B. Falk, Jr and Steven L. Mayer of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, P.C.

Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, P.C., is a San Francisco law firm with leading national and international practices, representing entities and individuals across a comprehensive range of practice areas. Our clients are among the most sophisticated consumers of legal services and include: The Charles Schwab Corporation; Citigroup; Clear Channel Communications; First Republic Bank; Genentech, Inc.; Google, Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Co.; Hitachi America, Ltd.; Morgan Stanley; The New York Times Company; The Oakland Raiders; PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.; Prudential Equity Group; The Regents of the University of California; Thomas Weisel Partners; UBS; the United States Olympic Committee and Wells Fargo & Company. For more information, please visit www.howardrice.com.