A Washington state woman who sued Ford Motor over her injuries in an SUV rollover accident isn't exactly thrilled that a jury cleared the automaker –- and awarded her $6 million in damages against her sister, who was the driver of the vehicle.

The October 1999 accident left Crystal Bear a quadriplegic and with a permanent brain injury. She was not wearing a seat belt but alleged Ford was liable for defective design of the Ford Bronco II's stability and handling systems and its rear seat belts.

The federal jury in Spokane, Wash., found Marla Bear 100 percent at fault for losing control of the SUV, in which her younger sister was a passenger. According to trial testimony, the car swerved when she looked over her shoulder to see if Crystal had her seat belt attached.

“They blamed my sister, and that’s retarded,’’ Crystal Bear, now 21, said after hearing the March 11 verdict.

Even Ford’s lead attorney had said in his closing argument that if the jury found any liability, it should blame his client, not Marla Bear. “You shouldn’t brand her with her sister’s injuries,’’ Donald H. Dawson said. "I say that even if it hurts my client."

The award includes $5,555,511 in future economic damages, $344,488 in past economic damages and $115,200 for pain and suffering. Crystal Bear had asked the jury for $30 million and her attorney said Marla Bear's insurance would not cover the award.

“The cold reality of this jury verdict is that neither Crystal nor her attorneys will get a single penny because of the very limited insurance that Marla had at the time of the accident,’’ Richard C. Eymann told the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper. “Now, the taxpayers will have to pick up the costs of supporting this woman for the rest of her life.’’

Ford, of course, is no stranger to SUV rollover cases -– last week, a California appeals court affirmed its earlier ruling awarding $82.6 million to a paraplegic who claimed faulty design caused a Ford Explorer, which replaced the Bronco II, to crash.

“Ford knew that the short wheel base, narrow track width, and high center of gravity [of the Bronco II] would combine to cause the Bronco II to rollover more easily than other more stable passenger vehicles,” Crystal Bear said in her complaint.

The 1984 Bronco that Marla Bear, who was 16 at the time, was driving drifted briefly onto the shoulder of a highway near her Rice, Wash., home before plunging down an embankment, rolling over two or three times and ending up in a field.

Crystal, who was ejected from the vehicle, told the jury she didn’t immediately buckle-up because the seat belt receiver was broken and had slid under the seat cushion where it wasn’t easily accessible. Under Washington state law, she had to name her sister as a co-defendant.

“We agree with the jury that it is unfair to blame Ford for this tragic accident which was caused by driver distraction,’’ a Ford spokeswoman said.

By Matthew Heller
3/20/08