CHARLESTON,VAS Community W.Va. (AP) — An appeals court in West Virginia on Friday reversed a $7 million award in a product liability lawsuit against the Ford Motor Co. to the family of a woman who died when her Ford Mustang was involved in a fiery crash.
The West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals sent the case back to Kanawha County Circuit Court for a new trial.
A jury had found that Ford was 99% at fault for the 2016 death of Breanna Bumgarner and awarded the money last year to her Raleigh County family.
Court records show that Bumgarner’s 2014 Mustang was hit by a pickup truck that had crossed the center line on U.S. Route 33 near Spencer in Roane County. The Mustang caught fire and Bumgarner was trapped in the vehicle. The lawsuit also named the 16-year-old driver of the other vehicle and her parents as defendants.
The plaintiff’s attorneys had argued that the Mustang’s brake fluid reservoir was not sufficiently protected from the crash and it led to the fire. The jury found that the reservoir’s design was not safe enough in preventing leakage in the accident.
The appeals court sided with Ford’s contention that negligent design claims require proof of a reasonable alternative design for establishing the existence of a defect, and that the jury should have been properly instructed on the requirement.
2025-05-05 07:041147 view
2025-05-05 06:571431 view
2025-05-05 06:151316 view
2025-05-05 06:151113 view
2025-05-05 05:26113 view
2025-05-05 05:02173 view
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — John Spratt, a former longtime Democratic congressman from South Carolina who
Lauren Alaina found her cowboy. The American Idol alum shared that she and Cam Arnold married in wha
Look what you made her do at the 2024 Grammys.While accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for