Date: 09-14-2005

Case Style: Micky Smith, et al. v. Ford Motor Company, et al.

Case Number: CJ-2004-59

Judge: Tom A. Lucas

Court: District Court, Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Randolph W. Barnhart, Englewood, Colorado; Richard L. Denney and Lydia Joann Barrett, Norman, Oklahoma; Russell T. Bowlan, Norman, Oklahoma; Kenneth W. Roesler, Sherman, Texas; David Smith, Norman, Oklahoma

Defendant's Attorney:

Mary Quinn Cooper, Andrew L. Richardson and Thomas E. Steichen Eldridge, Cooper, Steichen & Leach, PLLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Laura Amy Sherry Fischer, Oklahoma City; Roger Owen Housley, Norman Oklahoma; Chrystle R. Howard of Norman; Larry D. Ottaway of Oklahoma City represented Ford Motor Company

Preston Trimble, Norman, Oklahoma represnted Reynolds Ford

Bruce V. Winston, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma represented Five Star Ford.

Description:

The Family and Estate of Thomas Brown, et al. sued Ford Motor Company on a wrongful death products liability theory claiming that the 2001 Ford Expedition, purchased at Reynolds Ford in Oklahoma City two days prior to a July 26, 2003, crash on U.S. Highway 64 near Raton, New Mexico, that left five people dead, was defective and unreasonably dangerous. The Plaintiffs claimed that the a wheel bearing failed.

Ford's defense was that the the wheel bearing was neither defective nor unreasonably dangerous and had nothing to do with the subject accident

Outcome: Defendants' verdict.

Plaintiff's Experts: Bob Block, Ph.D. metallurgy Norman, Oklahoma; Larry Owens, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Anna Stodola, Denver Colorado, Accident Reconstruction; and Peter Lemmons Oklahoma Health Department re databases

Defendant's Experts: Robert Pascarella Ford Motor Co. automotive design; Greg Smith and Jon Bready Orom Utah accident reconstruction; Ed Caulfield, Ph.D. metallurgy; Anthony Skipper Timkin Bearings

Comments: None