Jurors in Gwinnett County, just northeast of Atlanta, returned a verdict late last week in the years-long civil case involving what plaintiffs’ lawyers called dangerously defective roofs on Ford trucks, attorney James Butler Jr. said Sunday. Melvin and Voncil Hill were killed in April 2014 in the wreck of their 2002 Ford F-250. Their children, Kim and Adam Hill, were the plaintiffs in the wrongful death case. “While our condolences go out to the Hill family, we do not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence and plan to appeal,” Ford said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sunday. Butler said he was surprised by the evidence in the case. “I was buying Ford trucks,” Butler said Sunday. “I thought no one would sell a truck with such a flimsy roof. The damn thing is useless in a wreck. You might as well drive a convertible.” In the latest hearing, lawyers hired by the company defended the actions of Ford and its engineers. The Michigan-based automaker sought to defend itself against accusations that “Ford and its engineers acted willfully and willfully, with a conscious disregard for the safety of the people riding in their cars when they made these decisions about strength of the roof,” said defense attorney William Withrow Jr. he said in his final words, according to a court transcript. The claim that Ford was irresponsible and intentionally made decisions that put customers at risk “simply doesn’t hold up,” another defense attorney, Paul Malek, said in the same closing argument. Attorneys for the plaintiffs had presented evidence of nearly 80 similar wrecks involving truck roofs that injured or killed motorists, Butler’s law firm, Butler Prather LLP, said in a statement. “More deaths and serious injuries are certain because millions of these trucks are on the road,” Butler Councilman Gerald Davidson said in the statement. “An award of punitive damages to hopefully warn the people who were riding in the millions of these trucks that Ford sold was why the Hill family was pushing for a verdict,” Butler said.
