CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A settlement involving both money and public disclosure of information was reached Monday in a paralyzed woman's lawsuit that would have been the first to go to trial against Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. since millions of tires were recalled.
The settlement was announced by lawyers for Donna Bailey and a spokeswoman for Ford.
Financial terms were not disclosed; she had been seeking $100 million.
"It's enough to take care of her for the rest of her life," said Mikal C. Watts, one of her attorneys.
Another attorney for Bailey, C. Tab Turner, said the amount "is far in excess of anything I've ever heard of in any automotive liability settlement."
The settlement also calls for an acceptance of responsibility and apology by Ford, and requires both companies to publicly disclose any additional information from the tire-recall investigation, the lawyers said.
"She does not want her case to stand merely for someone who wanted a monetary award. She wanted to advance public safety and protect lives," Watts said.
The case had been scheduled for jury selection Tuesday. Bailey's attorneys said they reached the agreement about 2 a.m. Monday after four nights of negotiations.
The judge in the case must review the settlement, and then after he accepts it, Ford will have 15 days to release documents to the public and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A spokeswoman for Ford, Susan Krusel, said a company representative flew to Houston to visit Bailey at a clinic on Sunday night.
"We are pleased to have resolved this case with Donna Bailey, and we extend our sympathies to her and her family," Krusel said in Dearborn, Mich.
Representatives of Bridgestone/Firestone did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Bailey, 44, of Portland, Texas, was paralyzed from the neck down in the March 10, 2000, crash.
She was a passenger in a friend's Ford Explorer when the vehicle rolled over after the tread separated from a Firestone tire.
Bailey's lawsuit, which she had filed with her 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, would have been the first involving the highly publicized allegations against Ford Explorers and Firestone to proceed to trial since a recall of 6.5 million tires last August.
However, Bailey's lawyers said the tires involved in her crash were not among those specified in the recall.
Watts said he hopes this settlement will help expand the recall to other Firestone tires.
The recall followed a string of rollover accidents, more than 200 of them fatal, in the United States and several other countries.
As many as 200 lawsuits have been filed against Ford and Firestone over tire-related crashes.
Last month, Ford resolved six claims in a single day, and Bruce Kaster, a leading lawyer in defective tire suits, said the company appeared to be moving quickly to resolve the cases.