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ARTICLE · 10 FEBRUARY 2023

Putting A Stop To Runaway Verdicts

Dickinson Wright PLLC
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How big is too big when it comes to verdicts? In August 2022, a Georgia family was awarded $1.7 billion in Hill v. Ford Motor Co., the largest verdict Georgia had ever seen.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Jeffrey W. Melcher
Jeffrey W. Melcher
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How big is too big when it comes to verdicts? In August 2022, a Georgia family was awarded $1.7 billion in Hill v. Ford Motor Co., the largest verdict Georgia had ever seen.

The circumstances of the case were tragic, and negligence on the part of the automaker seemed clear. An elderly couple was killed when the roof of their Ford F-250 pickup collapsed during a rollover crash - highlighting a design flaw that Ford was aware of and had failed to address.

Yet, even given these circumstances, $1.7 billion for one family is a lot of money. And this was not an isolated incident. As a practicing defense attorney in transportation liability litigation, I have watched as verdict award sizes have continued to increase, a trend some refer to as "runaway verdicts."

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