Product Liability: $1.7B Verdict Against Ford Motor Company

A Gwinnett County jury unanimously imposed a $1.7 billion verdict, the largest in state history, against Ford Motor Co. on Friday in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a 2014 rollover crash that killed a Middle Georgia couple.

Voncile Hill, 62, and her husband Melvin Hill, 74, died after their tire blew out on a Sumter County highway in 2014 and their 2002 Ford Super Duty F-250 pickup rolled over.

They were farmers traveling from their Macon County home to Americus to pick up a tractor part, said James E. Butler, of Butler Prather. Butler is the lead attorney for the Hills’ adult children, Kim and Adam.

The children sued Ford and Pep Boys, among others. The jury determined Ford had sold 5.2 million ‘Super Duty’ trucks with weak roofs that would crush people inside during rollovers. The flaw was present in all ‘Super Duty’ models between 1999 and 2016, Butler said.