Facts

This case involved a single vehicle rollover on the Sonora Highway in Mexico approximately an hour north of Hermosillo near the small town of Benjamin Hill. The vehicle was a Lincoln Navigator SUV with nine occupants including the driver, three other adults and five children ranging in age from 1½ to 14. The vehicle lost control and went into the median dividing the two northbound and two southbound lanes resulting in a passenger side leading roll. There was a dispute among the reconstruction experts as to whether it rolled two or three times. The trip commenced in Santa Ana, Calif. with the border crossing occurring in Tijuana, Mexico.

The 1998 Navigator was towing a Chevrolet Blazer. The accident occurred on Dec. 23, 2005 between 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. on a clear, dry day with light to moderate traffic. The driver was following his brother (a resident of Mexico) at a distance estimated between four to eight car lengths because he was unfamiliar with the highway and the route.

The vehicle in question was equipped with after market cast aluminum 20-inch wheels and low profile tires. Approximately 390 feet north of the point where the vehicle left the highway, there was a "pothole," or series of potholes located in the right center of the right hand southbound lane where the driver claimed he started to lose control of the Navigator. Although the driver testified that he did not actually see the pothole or potholes prior to encountering them with his right side wheels, he did claim that he heard a noise from the right rear of the vehicle as he passed over that point.

When the vehicle came to rest on its wheels, it was evident the right side wheels on the Navigator had sustained considerable damage. Both right side wheels had fracture points with significant portions of the inner flange of the rims broken away and missing (apparently not located by anyone at the scene of the accident notwithstanding the fact that there were at least nine police officers from one jurisdiction or another present at the scene).

The plaintiffs named approximately eight defendants, served and joined six, including Ford Motor Company as the manufacturer of the vehicle, the entity that sold the after market tires, the entity that sold the used Navigator to plaintiff, an alleged distributor for the off shore tire manufacturer, a small repair shop that did some brake work on the vehicle several months before the accident, and the after market rim manufacturer, American Eagle Wheel Corporation. One defendant was dismissed before trial and four others settled for a combined total amount of just over $900,000.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiffs, through their experts, contended that the two passenger side rims on the Navigator failed as the vehicle passed through the pothole causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and ultimately leave the highway and rollover resulting in the injuries and two fatalities involved in the accident. Plaintiffs' contended the rims were defective in both design and manufacture.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendant contended that the damage to the right side rims occurred during the rollover, not at the pothole. There was other, significant damage supporting this contention, including a complete fracture of the right rear axle of the Navigator and major suspension damage for various right front suspension components on the Navigator. The plaintiff's experts conceded that the rear axle fracture and the suspension component damage on the right front of the Navigator all occurred during the rollover.

Settlement Discussions

Various demands were made during the course of litigation, plaintiffs offering to settle with defendant for $3 million for a fairly long period of time. Shortly before trial, after all other defendants had settled, the plaintiffs made a negotiable demand for $2.8 million. The defendant at that time made an offer of $300,000. During trial, the settlement demand from plaintiffs was reduced initially to approximately $1.5 million and then reduced (during the defense case) to $400,000. At that point, defendant withdrew all monetary offers as the matter proceeded to verdict.

Injuries

The accident resulted in two fatalities, a 67-year-old woman and a 3½-year-old girl. Personal injuries to the occupants included some cuts and bruises, two fractured clavicles and assorted soft tissue injuries. There were also claims of "bystanders" emotional distress and wrongful death actions regarding both decedents.

Result

Defense verdict. In response to special verdict questions, the jury determined the defendant was not negligent and the rim design was not defective. However, the jury did find there was a defect in the manufacture of the rims. Finally, the jury determined the rims, defective or not, did not fail at the pothole and did not cause the accident. No jury poll was taken.

Other Information

The rims, closely examined by several experts following the accident, were found to be a few thousandths of an inch below the defendant's own design specifications. However, some exemplar wheels were ground down to an even lower thickness, placed on a similar vehicle and successfully field tested over two different size potholes. The pothole or potholes in question were filled in (repaired) by Mexican highway authorities within a couple of house following the accident in such a way that obtaining dimensions of them was not something any of the forensic investigators could accomplish. Approximately a year and a half into the litigation, five photographs of the potholes turned up (shortly before the first trial date) and were then subjected to several photogrametry efforts by various experts (which led to some differences of opinion as to the dimensions).

Deliberation

2.25 hours

Length

17 days