Jury Recommends $14 Million In Ford Rollover Case

A jury has recommended that a San Diego Ford dealership pay more than $14 million to the family of a couple killed in a 2006 rollover crash. The verdict was reached against Mossy Ford. Three sons of Casey and Melanie Barber filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the dealership.

The couple was killed in July 2006 when their Ford E350 Sportsmobile rolled over near Page, Ariz., after a right-rear tire tread separation led to the crash. On July 31, 2006, Casey Barber was driving his Ford E350 Sportsmobile van on Highway 98 near Page, Arizona with his wife Melanie when a right-rear tire tread separation caused the vehicle to lose control and roll over. The San Diego couple sustained fatal injuries, and are survived by their three minor sons, plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

In August of 2005, defendant Mossy Ford performed a faulty tire repair. Plaintiffs' counsel proved at trial that Mossy Ford improperly failed to take the tire out of service and that this conduct caused the tire tread separation and led to the fatal rollover accident.

San Diego County, California jury returned a record wrongful death verdict of $14,465,864 for the deaths of two adults against a Ford dealership. Before the trial, a settlement was reached with other defendants for $8,300,000, bringing the total to $22,763,000.

As a condition of the post-verdict settlement, the Barber family insisted that Mossy Ford agree to immediately begin to follow industry guidelines regarding tire repair practices and to implement a training program to better train its technicians about safe tire repair practices to improve consumer safety. Mossy Ford agreed to these settlement conditions.

The case was tried in front of Judge Luis Vargas in Department 63 of the Superior Court in San Diego, California.
Case No. [37-2007-00072100-CU-NP-CTL]