Jury rules against Ford, gives families $225 million
SAN DIEGO — A Duval County jury awarded $225 million on Friday in a product liability lawsuite against Ford Motor Co. in a fatal 2001 accident involving an F-150 four-door super cab pickup.
The pickup rolled three times in the July 26 accident outside Benavides in South Texas. During the accident, the doors on the driver side opened and Paul Alaniz, 34, the driver, and Laura Benavides, 20, who was seated directly behind him, were ejected. Alaniz and Benavides were killed, but two others on the right side of the truck were uninjured. Their doors remained closed during the accident.
No one in the truck was wearing a seat belt, said Jeff Wigington of Corpus Christi, lead attorney for the Alaniz family.