Nine To Review $82.6M Award In Ford Explorer Rollover Case

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ordered a state appeals court yesterday to review a decision giving $82.6 million to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over.

The justices want a California appeals court to determine if its ruling is in line with the Supreme Court decision overturning a $79.5 punitive damages award in a tobacco case earlier this year. The court said then that a jury may punish a defendant only for the harm done to the person who is suing, not to others whose cases were not before it.

Benetta Buell-Wilson, 51, was driving on an interstate east of San Diego in January 2002 when she swerved to avoid a metal object and lost control of her 1997 Explorer, which rolled 4 1/2 times. The mother of two was paralyzed from the waist down when the roof collapsed on her neck, severing her spine. In June 2004, a San Diego jury found that her Explorer was defective because of instability and a weak roof.

A jury initially awarded $369 million, including $246 million in punitive damages. It was the first damage award against the Ford Motor Company involving a rollover of an Explorer and one of the biggest personal-injury awards ever against an automaker.

Courts twice cut the size of the award. The $82.6 million approved by a California state appeals court now includes punitive damages of $55 million.

The case is Ford Motor Company v. Buell-Wilson, 06–1068.