Lawyers Ask Judge to Punish Ford in Roof Crush Retrial
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Judge Shawn Bratton, Gwinnett County State Court (Photo: John Disney/ALM)[/caption] A new motion for sanctions is pending in a contentious case against Ford Motor Co. that ended in a mistrial last month. Lawyers for the surviving sons of Melvin and Voncile Hill, Kim and Adam, have asked Gwinnett County State Court Judge Shawn Bratton to punish Ford by excluding the company’s defense on key issues. Mainly the Hills are asking the judge to make Ford admit that its F-250 pickup roof was weak and defective, that the company knew it and did nothing and that a caving-in roof killed Melvin and Voncile in a rollover crash that could have been survived otherwise. That would leave Ford arguing mainly over damages when the case goes to trial again. But Ford has fought hard against all the charges before, during and after the three weeks of courtroom drama that ended when both sides asked for a mistrial, saying they were irreparably damaged by the misdeeds of the other. Ford local counsel Michael Boorman of Huff, Powell & Bailey said Wednesday that the company’s reply brief is due May 24 and will be filed by that date. Ford has denied wrongdoing and accused opposing counsel of misdeeds worthy of punishment. Before the judge deals with the sanctions motion, he will have to decide on a motion to recuse that Ford previously filed, charging Bratton with unfair, one-sided rulings and seeking to replace him for the next trial. The Hills' posttrial motion for sanctions and brief in support said, “Ford richly deserves to have its answer stricken” because the company “deliberately procured a mistrial by willfully and repeatedly violating” judge’s orders and then arguing it was “entitled” to do that. “Plaintiffs could ask, as they repeatedly did at trial, that Ford's answer be stricken in its entirety and that the next jury be instructed that the Court finds Ford liable to Plaintiffs on all claims for compensatory damages and punitive damages, and that the roof is defective and Ford knew it, and that Ford's conduct was reckless, and wanton, and in breach of Ford's duty to warn of a known danger,” the Hills' lawyers said. But they did not ask for that. Instead, they asked for issue preclusion sanctions. They cited a decision by now-retired Clark County State Court Judge Kent Lawrence in Gibson v. Ford—a decision unanimously affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2008. The Hills also cited Cobb County State Court Judge Kathryn Tanksley, who in a 2011 case denied a motion to strike Ford’s answer but ordered issue preclusion as a sanction for the company misleading the court regarding insurance coverage for purposes of screening the jury for conflicts. The issue on which Tanksley prevented Ford’s defense was failure to warn of a seat belt defect that the family of 15-year-old Deebs Young alleged killed him during a Ford Explorer rollover. Ford settled with the Young family during the ensuing trial. The Hills' legal team concluded in its 64-page motion and brief that the company’s lawyers “decided to derail the trial of this case and to willfully violate” a long list of the judge’s orders, even though Bratton repeatedly warned that doing so would result in "very serious sanctions." “If Ford is not severely sanctioned, the second trial will be no different than the first,” the Hills said. “The issue preclusion sanctions requested by Plaintiffs are well deserved, are absolutely appropriate given Ford's repetitive and willful misconduct, are tailored to Ford's misconduct and the purpose and consequences of that misconduct, and are well within this Court's power.” The Hills’ lead counsel is Jim Butler of Butler Wooten & Peak. Butler has won verdicts in excess of $100 million in product liability cases against General Motors and Chrysler. His legal team includes Gerald Davidson Jr. of Mahaffey Pickens Tucker in Lawrenceville, who worked with Butler in a 1993 trial against GM when a jury awarded $105 million to the parents of Shannon Moseley. That verdict—which included $101 million in punitive damages—was later overturned, and the case settled before it was tried again. The Butler team also includes David Rohwedder of the Butler Wooten firm, based in Columbus and Atlanta. Rohwedder was on Butler’s trial team representing the parents of 4-year-old Remi Walden in a civil suit against Fiat Chrysler. They won a $150 million verdict, which the judge reduced to a $40 million award. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the Walden judgment just before the Hill trial started. Brandon Peak, Christopher McDaniel and Ramsey Prather of Butler Wooten are also on the team, as is Michael Gray of Walker, Hulbert, Gray & Moore in Perry. Ford’s lead counsel is D. Alan Thomas of Huie Fernambucq & Stewart in Birmingham, working with Paul Malek of his firm. Their team includes Michael Eady of Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons of Austin, Texas. Their Atlanta lawyers are Boorman and Philip Henderson of Huff, Powell & Bailey plus J. Randolph Evans, who recently announced plans to leave Dentons. The case is Hill v. Ford, No. 16 C 04179-2.
