Ford Compensates Parents of Veteran Killed in Oklahoma Rollover

The Ammons Law Firm has successfully concluded a wrongful death case filed on behalf of the parents of a 26-year-old decorated Army veteran who was killed in a rollover crash.

The veteran was the belted driver of a 2010 Ford F250 traveling on an Oklahoma highway when a patch of ice caused the pickup to leave the roadway and roll over.  The veteran suffered fatal blunt force head trauma that would have been prevented had the F250 been capable of providing a reasonable degree of occupant protection in a foreseeable rollover.

According to Rob Ammons, Ford’s F250 was not crashworthy, meaning occupants of the pickup were put at risk of suffering extra injuries unnecessarily in an accident.  Ammons claimed Ford’s crashworthiness goals should have included providing adequate protection and injury prevention through effective seat belts, a roll-activated safety canopy (which Ford’s own engineers had recommended for inclusion in 2001 and later model light trucks), and a roof structure that would not collapse.  But the F250 the veteran was driving had a weak roof that collapsed, had seat belts that failed to keep him coupled to his seat, and had no safety canopy that would deploy in a rollover in order to offer protection crucial to injury prevention.   The pickup’s shortcomings caused the injuries that claimed the young man’s life.

The veteran’s parents sought wrongful death damages that included loss of the positive benefits flowing from the love, comfort, companionship, and society their son would have given them had he lived as well as the emotional pain, torment and suffering they experienced as a result of their son’s untimely and unnecessary death.

The Ammons Law Firm has a nationwide personal injury practice focusing on tire defects, truck accidents, rollovers, consumer protection and product liability, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, airbag defects, and plant explosions.