Award Against Ford Reduced

A San Diego judge upheld a jury verdict that Ford Motor Co. was responsible for an accident that left a woman paralyzed when her Explorer rolled over, but reduced the damages against the automaker from $369 million to $150 million.

Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright said in his ruling Thursday that the evidence presented at trial this year showed that Ford “acted with malice and that Ford acted with a conscious disregard for the safety of others.”

“Ford cannot protect itself by arguing the vehicle meets all applicable safety standards when there is evidence Ford knew of potentially fatal defects during the development and manufacture of the vehicle not addressed by the safety standards and chose not to remedy those problems,” Enright wrote. “Such acts constitute despicable conduct and expose Ford to the prospect of punitive damages.”

Ford plans to appeal, said Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney for the Dearborn, Mich.-based company.

Attorneys for plaintiff Benetta Buell-Wilson, 49, had argued that the automaker used weak support pillars in the vehicle “which resulted in the Explorer having a propensity to collapse in a rollover collision.”

Buell-Wilson was driving east of San Diego in January 2002 when she lost control of her 1997 Explorer, which rolled 4 1/2 times.