Ford Explorer Class Action Plaintiffs End Up With . . . $37,500
Published: August 3rd, 2009
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The Associated Press provides an update on the fallout from the 2007 Ford Explorer rollover suit. When all’s said and done, the plaintiffs’ lawyers received $25 million for their time. The clients, not so much. “In exchange for dropping the lawsuit that alleged rollover problems unfairly diminished the resale value of Explorers, Ford customers could receive a $500 discount coupon toward the purchase of a new SUV or a $300 coupon to buy another Ford vehicle. Consumers had until April 29, 2008 to apply for the coupons . . . A report filed with the court in June showed just 75 coupons have been redeemed for a combined $37,500.” Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said the settlement prevented the company from discussing the case. “We are pleased to have finally settled this case with the plaintiffs and to finally put this behind us,” Kinley said. “We are also pleased to hear that some people took advantage of the vouchers to purchase a new Ford Explorer.” I bet they are. Ford dodged a $500 million bullet, back when $500 million was real money. [thanks to The Walking Eye for the link]
More by Robert Farago
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'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers'. -Shakespeare
Maybe what is really lacking is driving instruction on what to do in the event of a tire failure. Instead of focusing on parallel parking and turn signals our testing should see if drivers know what to do in ice at night on narrow roads. There have been so many lawsuits where the lawyers made millions and the class action participants got coupons for discounts. A famous suit against Sears netted 3 million + in cash for the law firm and a 10 dollar coupon in the mail for a few thousand people. Bankruptcy clears the deck on a number of cases against Chrysler and GM. It outraged the people who make a living needling companies in the name of public safety. How much of each overpriced car sold new today reflects litigation costs? In the end we all pay for excessive tort and for the few cases that have merit plenty don't. I've never bought the notion that companies willfully and maliciously allowed their customers to suffer pain and death using their products. More likely they were victims of bad circumstance and unknown variables. But lawyers are masterful Monday morning quarterbacks and use any method necessary to convince a jury to award millions across the table. Visit www.Overlawyered.com for more information
Does anyone who read this know anyone who was part of this class action suit or someone who used the voucher? I'm working on a story for a National News show about how the lawyers got so much and the consumers got so little.