Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.

Help support the publication of case reports on MoreLaw

Date: 03-18-2005

Case Style: Estate and Family of James Mikolajczyk v. Ford Motor Company

Case Number: Unknown

Judge: Unknown

Court: Circuit Court, Cook County, Illinois

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Bruce R. Pfaff of Bruce R. Pfaff & Associates, Ltd., Chicago, Illinois

Defendant's Attorney: Unknown

Description:

The Estate and Family of James Mikolajczyk, age 46, sued Ford Motor Company on a wrongful death products liability theory claiming that the Ford Escort that he was driving at the time of the accident that caused his death was defective and unreasonably dangerous because the seat was so weak that it would fail in a reasonably anticipated rear-end impact. They claimed that happened when mr. Mikolajczyk's Escort was rear-ended by a drunk driver whose car was traveling at an estimated 60 mph at the time of impact. They claimed, however, that the rear-end impact would not have killed Mikolajczyk if the seat in which he was sitting at the time of the impact had not failed. The Plaintiffs claimed that Mr. Mikolajczyk's death was caused by head injuries resulting from his head hitting the back seat when the seat collapsed from the impact forces. The same car seat was used for Ford Escort models between 1991 and 1996. The Plaintiffs claimed that there are still millions of these cars on America's roads, all of them potentially dangerous for many drivers.

Ford claimed that seat systems must provide occupant protection under numerous conditions and there is no simple engineering solution for maximizing the occupant protection performance of seats under all possible circumstances. Ford further asserted that it is "committed to the advancement of safety system technology and continued seat performance research efforts."

Outcome: Plaintiffs' verdict for $27 million.

Plaintiff's Experts: Unknown

Defendant's Experts: Unknown

Comments: None



Find a Lawyer

Subject:
City:
State:
 

Find a Case

Subject:
County:
State: