Why American business leaves America...
Why American business leaves America...
Maybe Ford needs to move the fuel tank under the seat.
Tort Reform!!!!!!
Atlas will soon shrug.
I wish someone would point me to the gulch.
Are you hurt? Do you need money? I'll take the case. Next?
There are a lot of cars out there with this gas tank configuration. It's no more or less unsafe than other designs; my Z carries a 19 gallon tank aft of the rear IRS, but before the bumper, and it's not been considered unsafe. I've not seen any argument yet (that made sense) that explained why the Town Car/Crown Vic/Grand Marquis tank design is any less safe than, say, the Cadillac Fleetwood, Jaguar XJ8. or the BMW 7-series' is. Anyone seen one?
WAHOOOO!!!!!
Seriously, did everyone read right past the portion of the article that said Ford knew of the increased risk of explosion by placing the fuel tank behind the axle and chose not to spend $10 per car on a recall to move it? This is bean counting at its worst that placed unecessary risks to the consumer. The verdict is high, and will be reduced on appeal, but come on, this case was meritorious.
"They are all to blame. We need tort reform today to stop this nonsense."
Never get tort reform without the President pushing. He is too busy with SS to pay attention to the more important problems. Most of the Republican party has fallen apart and nothing will get done for the rest of the President's term. Sorry, but when no attention is paid to the real problems, they wimps run, duck or hide. I will never vote Republican again. What's the use.
The best remedy for lawsuits is to limit how much attorneys can make from filing law suits. JMHO.
Ford's attorney, Jim Feeney, argued again on Tuesday that it was Ingram, not Ford, who was to blame for the tragedy when she fumbled for her glasses and failed to notice that the Town Car had stopped. Ingram was ticketed for failing to slow down to avoid the accident. On the eve of the trial, she was dismissed as a defendant in the suit.
Hmm... some future Darwin Award candidate plows into the back of someone at 60 miles and hour, yet it is not her fault???
Lakin also asked them to award $15 million in punitive damages against Ford, saying the company knew about the potential for safety problems for 40 years but that "no Ford employees were ready to accept responsibility."
Insane. A gas tank has to go somewhere. As another poster said, dozens of models have the same design. Are the owners now all potential lottery winners?
The explosion was caused by a wrench in the Jablonski's trunk that "blew" through the fuel tank on impact, causing the tank to rupture and igniting an explosion.
An unsecured metal object was in the trunk, yet it was Ford's fault!?
The Town Car, he argued, had met the highest crash standards in the industry.
But it is never enough.
"It was the perfect alignment of the moon, the sun, the stars, the planets," he said. "Everything had to be same for this to happen."
Yup. Lottery Winners often feel like that.
So - the idiot who actually rear-ended the victim in this case was let off the hook completely - even though it is HER fault this accident happened to begin with?
I don't care if there was dynomite in the trunk of the Town Car - the whole accident would never have happened had this idiot woman driving had been paying attention and driving in a safe manner.
But you see - you have to go after whoever has the deepest pockets. The person who caused the accident in the first place most likely didn't have enough assets to go after. But Ford sure does.
This is absolutely absurd. I certainly feel for the victim in this case - but they went after the wrong party and were encouraged by a corrupt court system.
You can't punish a corporation, you can only punish its customers and stock holders. This judgement amounts to saying every single American who buys a car from Ford this year will pay for the car, and put in an extra couple of bucks on top of that to pay for this judgement.
The life's labors of millions of engineers and industrialists specializing in literally thousands of fields have made our society the most physically mobile in history. Just about anyone willing to work can afford to have a car and travel anywhere they want to go on a whim. It's incredible. A wonder of the world. I would say it's on the short list for THE wonder of the world.
Reading about the rebuilding of Iraq, you see that basic infrastructure like electricity and water are a major problem because looters are ripping out the pipes and transmission wires to sell for scrap metal as fast as we can put them back up. And you shake your head and wonder how they could be so short sightedly self destructive.
Well, right here in America the god damned trial laywers are looting our own civilization just as effectively one bad judgement like this one at a time.
People this will be changed.
Of course she was dismissed prior to trial -- she hasn't got the bankroll ($$$).