McALLEN, Texas — Marisa Rodriguez loved to paint landscapes. Her last one shows a river flowing through a forest of tall trees — but she was never able to complete the sky.
She was riding in a Ford Explorer last summer when one of its Firestone tires came apart and the sport-utility vehicle flipped over. The accident left Rodriguez brain damaged and paralyzed, unable to paint, play with her children or do the other things that used to bring her joy.
The unfinished painting was among her artwork shown to the jury in her family's $1 billion lawsuit against the tiremaker. It was the first such suit to go to trial, and on Friday, it was settled abruptly for a reported $7.5 million as the jury was deliberating.
Heartbreaking details such as the painting help to drive up personal-injury lawsuits like those against Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and Ford Motor Co.
Although much of the attention involving the Firestone tire failures has focused on the 203 U.S. deaths reported to federal investigators, the life-altering injuries are at the forefront of the legal battles.
The personal-injury cases can result in the largest judgments against the companies if they are forced to pay for a lifetime of medical bills and emotional scars.
"For somebody who has been seriously injured, you have to compensate for the pain and suffering and the change in their lifestyle," said Rutgers University law professor Jay Fineman. "Many juries will say it takes an awfully large amount of money to compensate for that."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has collected reports of more than 700 injuries linked to the tires. The agency is not verifying all the reports, and no one knows how many of the injuries have left permanent damage.
So far, Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford have kept the victims' stories quiet with settlements. But details will no doubt be discussed in any lawsuit that goes to trial.
Dr. Joel Rodriguez told jurors in McAllen that his wife was once a happy mother, active in their church and so beautiful that she modeled for local clothing stores and was crowned queen of her high school.
Now, he said, they can no longer be intimate, their son is scared to see her in her wheelchair and her eyes "no longer shine."
Lawyers hope the sad stories of the Explorer-Firestone accident victims will move other juries to award large judgments. In many cases, the victims include more than one member of the same family, and they often were active and successful in their careers.
"When you've got a severely injured person in the courtroom, it makes a difference in the psychological and emotional context," said Jim Speta, who teaches law at Northwestern University.
Some victims are children, such as 8-year-old Eric Dudley of Tampa, Fla., who suffered permanent brain damage when he was in a Ford-Firestone accident. He was on his way to be a ring bearer in a wedding in North Carolina.
"He wanted to be a doctor like his daddy," said his attorney, Rich Newsome of Orlando, Fla. "He'll no longer be able to do that, his dream is gone. He could have been making six figures for life, and he's lost that, not to mention the personal emotional impact. What does that do to your self-esteem?"
Ford and Firestone will not discuss the lawsuits against them, but about 200 have been settled out of court so far. Marisa Rodriguez's case was the first to go to trial against Bridgestone/Firestone. Ford had already settled with the family for $6 million.
Attorneys around the country are pressing forward with hundreds of personal injury lawsuits. More than 300 are pending in federal court alone.
Juries in poverty-stricken south Texas, where the Rodriguez case was heard, have a reputation for awarding large judgments.
Jerry Polinard, a political scientist at University of Texas-Pan American, said plaintiffs' attorneys often try to get their cases heard there.
"The thinking is people are more sympathetic down here to the little person challenging the big corporation," he said. "I don't know if there is any information to support that."
Because the Explorer retails at more than $25,000 and is marketed to upscale suburban families, the loss of earnings can be high, another reason for jurors to award large verdicts.
Chuck Burt of White Lake, Mich., was paralyzed in an Explorer-Firestone accident last summer while riding to a family reunion with his wife and baby daughter. At 26, he owned a company that installed wood flooring and already made $125,000 a year, said his lawyer, Donald Darling.
"He can't be intimate with his wife and can't have any more children," Darling said. "He's not going to be able to work the way he did before. He's not going to be the person he was before."
On the Net: www.bridgestone-firestone.com; www.ford.com