Products Liability Law Reporter

Nancy Coll, 45, was walking to her car in a shopping center parking lot when she was struck and run over by a 2018 Ford F 250 truck. She suffered numerous traumatic injuries and fractures, including a degloving injury to her hand and a fractured tibia, pelvis, ankle, and clavicle. She underwent multiple surgeries and incurred approximately $417,700 in medical expenses.

A pediatric dentist, Coll was out of work for approximately five months and incurred over $209,900 in past lost income. She continues to suffer chronic pain and loss of use in her right hand.

Coll brought a products liability suit against Ford Motor Co., alleging liability for the failure to equip the F 250 with a feasible safety device. The plaintiff asserted that it had been economically and technologically feasible to equip the vehicle with a pedestrian detection system, which would have warned the driver and even automatically stopped the truck before impact. Moreover, the court said, these systems were installed in vehicles as early as 2009, including in Ford subsidiary Volvo’s cars, and by 2018, 145 different makes and models had pedestrian detection systems.

The plaintiff also argued that the rising rate of traumatic pedestrian injuries from large trucks due to visibility issues, as well as truck size and weight, made the vehicles particularly appropriate for pedestrian detection systems.

The plaintiff and defendant reached a settlement for a confidential amount.

Citation: Coll v. Ford Motor Co., No. 2020-CCV-60458-1 (Tex. Dist. Ct. Nueces Cnty. Sept. 15, 2022).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members David Bright and Kevin Liles, both of Corpus Christi, Texas; and Lynn Shumway, Phoenix.

Plaintiff experts: Shawn Harrington, accident reconstruction and driver assistance systems, and Peter Leiss, automotive engineering and pedestrian detection system feasibility, both of Philadelphia; Paul Lewis, biomechanics, Roswell, Ga.; David Altman, neurology, and Keith Fairchild, economics, both of San Antonio; Shelly Savant, life care planning, Lafayette, La.; and Donna Johnson, vocational rehabilitation, Corpus Christi.

Defense experts: Robert Pascarella, design analysis engineering and feasibility, Dearborn, Mich.; Daniel Toomey, accident reconstruction, Novi, Mich.; Elizabeth Raphael, biomechanics, Palo Alto, Calif.; and Matthew Bishop, economics, Jacksonville, Fla.