The cases led to record-setting jury verdicts of $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion.
Litigation against Ford Motor Co. over the deaths of Herman and Debra Mills after a crash in southwest Georgia in August 2022 included photographs of the couple’s 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck. Ford has settled the case after a $2.5 billion jury verdict. (Courtesy of the Mills family)
Ford Motor Co. has settled two lawsuits in Georgia that elicited record-setting, billion-dollar jury verdicts, ending more than a decade of litigation about the roof strength of its Super Duty trucks.
The company was found liable in the deaths of two Georgia couples and ordered to pay $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively, to their families. Both cases were still being litigated.
Georgia attorney James “Jim” Butler, who led the cases against Ford, declined to comment Monday. Both lawsuits officially ended Friday, case filings show. The court documents do not reveal the settlement terms.
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This court-filed image shows Debra and Herman Mills’ 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck after a fatal rollover crash in southwest Georgia in August 2022. The couple’s children were awarded $2.5 billion at trial against Ford, which has just settled the case. (Courtesy)
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This court-filed image shows Voncile and Melvin Hill’s 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck after a rollover crash in April 2014. The Georgia couple’s children were awarded $1.7 billion at trial against Ford, which has just settled the case. (Courtesy)
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Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
