$40 Million Verdict Against Ford After 'False Park' Defect Left Georgia Woman Paraplegic

On November 1, 2005, Jessica Mundy parked her 2004 Ford Explorer at a post office in McDonough, Georgia and stepped out to drop off a package. The SUV, which she had placed in park, rolled backward without warning. The driver's side door struck her and the front left tire pinned her to the ground, fracturing a vertebra at the L-1 level. She was rendered a paraplegic at the scene.

The defect at the center of the case was what engineers call 'false park': a condition in which the transmission physically appears to be in park but has not fully engaged the parking pawl, leaving the vehicle free to roll. Jeffrey Harris, Jed Manton, and Stephen Lowry of Harris Lowry Manton LLP took the case to trial and presented evidence that Ford had received at least 751 complaints about Ford Explorers and related models shifting themselves out of park on their own. Internal company records and prior complaints, the team argued, showed Ford had been aware of the problem for decades without issuing a recall or redesign.

After nearly two weeks of testimony, the DeKalb County jury sided with the Mundys. On May 6, 2009, jurors awarded $9 million in compensatory damages to Jessica Mundy, $1 million to her husband Ken Mundy, and $30 million in punitive damages against Ford Motor Company and Legacy Ford, the dealership that sold the vehicle, for a total of $40 million.

Following the verdict, Ford and Legacy Ford reached a negotiated settlement with the Mundy family. The terms were not disclosed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into the transmission defects on Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers from model years 2002 through 2005 in the wake of the case.