Submitted by: Submitted by tjbolt05
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Words: 1880
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Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 05/05/2013 10:57 AM
Product Liability
Travis Bolt
Stayer University
Leg500
12/16/12
1. Describe the company and the product safety issue that led to the lawsuit.
Branham v. Ford Motor Co.
Ford Motor company is a main stay in automotive manufacturing and a repeated winner of many presitigious awards in engineering and manufacturing. The companys is as large as it is innovative. With a 166,000 employees working around the world it is a giant in modern day industry. Originally founded in 1903 by Henry Ford it has grown by leaps and bounds (Ford Motor Co.). This growth has not come without its growth pains. The famous product liability case of the Ford Pinto set a new standard for product liability in the modern era and forever marred the Ford name. (American Decades, 2001) Since that case, Ford has tried to stay ahead of major lawsuits by being premtive with better engineering and issuing recalls before product liability litigation is nessisary. The Pinto case also helped the government to create a stronger and more through regulatory body to help protect the public from faulty products.
The case against Ford Motor Co. is brought by Jesse Branham III, who was riding in the back seat of Cheryl Hale’s 1987 Ford Bronco II 4x2 in June of 2001. Hale turned to the back seat and asked the children to quiet down. While she was turned around she began to veered towards the shoulder of the road and eventually the right tire left the road. She responded by over correcting to her left. This over correction caused the vehicle to roll over, causing the plaintiff to be ejected from the vehicle.
This case deals with product liability on two independent claims against Ford Motor Co. and a claim against Hale(driver of the Bronco). The plaintiff (Branham) did not actively pursue Hale but chose to focus his attention on the case against Ford. The case against Ford was based upon two product liability claims. The claims were a defective seat belt claim and a “Handling and stability”...