Photo Credit: Shutterstock
A jury in Columbus, Georgia, delivered a “phase 2” verdict on Friday, awarding $2.5 billion in punitive damages in a case against Ford Motor Company. The case, Brogdon (Mills) v. Ford Motor Company, stemmed from the deaths of Herman and Debra Mills, who suffered fatal injuries when their 2015 Ford F-250 “Super Duty” truck rolled over in August 2022 in Decatur County.
Herman and Debra Mills, founders of Mills Welding & Fabrication Services, had retired in 2019. The lawsuit alleged that their truck veered off the road, struck a culvert concealed by overgrown grass, became airborne, and landed on its front before rolling over. According to court filings, the roof collapsed into the passenger compartment, leading to Debra Mills’ death at the scene and Herman Mills’ passing nine days later in a Florida hospital.
The plaintiffs contended that the roofs on all 1999-2016 Ford “Super Duty” trucks are structurally weak, with a strength-to-weight ratio (SWR) of 1.1—far below the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s minimum threshold of 4.0 for a “good” rating. Ford, in its defense, maintained that these roofs were “absolutely safe” and denied any causal relationship between roof strength and injuries in rollover accidents. However, both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the IIHS have rejected this argument.
The lawsuit was initiated on May 23, 2023, by the Mills’ relatives, James E. “Dusty” Brogdon, Ronald B. “Rusty” Brogdon, and Jason Mills. The case was tried in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Columbus Division, before U.S. District Judge Clay Land.
The punitive damages verdict followed the jury’s phase 1 decision on Thursday, which awarded $30.5 million in compensatory damages.
James “Jim” Butler Jr., lead counsel for the Mills family, emphasized that Ford had been aware of the risks associated with these roofs for 26 years but had failed to take corrective action or warn consumers. Co-counsel Ramsey Prather expressed hope that the verdict would serve as a warning to the public about the dangers posed by these vehicles.
Legal News
February 9, 2025Lawsuit Over Cruise Port Damage May Delay Royal Caribbean’s
