CERES, Calif. -- Ford Motor Co. has been ordered to pay $295 million to the family of a couple and their son who were killed in the rollover of a Ford Bronco.
Jurors on Monday awarded $5 million in compensation to three family members and $290 million in punitive damages. A spokesman for the automaker said Ford would appeal.In the Ford lawsuit, Juan Romo and his two surviving sisters claimed the automaker knew the Bronco's mostly plastic roof would not hold up in a rollover.
Romo was driving the 1978 Bronco in June 1993 when he swerved to avoid a van. The vehicle rolled over, killing Romo's mother, father and brother.
A former Ford executive, Tom Feeney, testified on behalf of the Romos, saying company officials knew the roof was virtually certain to fail, said plaintiffs' lawyer Laurence Drivon.