Home Case Results Kim Hill and Adam Hill, surviving children and Co-Administrators of the Estates of Melvin Hill and Voncile Hill, deceased v. Ford Motor Company, The Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack (Inc.), Curtis Clinton Thompson, Jr., Willie Braswell, and Donald Taylor

Auto Products / Wrongful Death

8/19/2022 - $1,724,038,500

Kim Hill and Adam Hill, surviving children and Co-Administrators of the Estates of Melvin Hill and Voncile Hill, deceased v. Ford Motor Company, The Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack (Inc.), Curtis Clinton Thompson, Jr., Willie Braswell, and Donald Taylor; State Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia. On August 19, 2022, a jury in Lawrenceville, Georgia returned a verdict against Ford Motor Company in a case involving roof crush in a rollover wreck of a red F250 truck owned by Voncille & Melvin Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were both killed by roof crush when the roof completely collapsed on top of them. The case was filed on December 22, 2014, by Kim Hill and Adam Hill, the surviving sons of Mr. & Mrs. Hill, who had been killed on April 3, 2014. The jury returned a verdict for the wrongful death of Melvin and Voncile Hill and for their pain and suffering in the amount of $24,030,500 and imposed $1.7 billion in punitive damages against Ford. The jury apportioned 70% of the compensatory damages to Ford and 30% of the compensatory damages to Pep Boys, a tire distributor that mistakenly installed the wrong size, or "load range," tires of the Hills' truck in 2010. That mistake caused the right front tire to blow out, which caused the wreck, but did not cause the roof to collapse – that was due to Ford’s terrible design. Undisputed evidence at the trial showed the wreck was survivable, and the crushing of the roof caused the injuries to and deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Hill. Pep Boys settled in 2018. This was at the time the largest verdict by far in Georgia history – almost 4 times as large as the previous largest verdict – also won by a team led by Jim Butler as lead counsel. The case had first been tried in 2018, but Ford deliberately violated multiple court orders in an attempt to get a mistrial and escape the verdict Ford knew was coming. After 15 days of trial, the trial judge declared a mistrial and thereafter imposed sanctions upon Ford. The case was finally tried the second time for three weeks in August 2022. Plaintiff was represented by James E. Butler, Jr. and Daniel E. Philyaw of Butler Prather LLP, assisted by Butler Prather paralegals Kim McCallister and Sarah Andrews and investigator Nick Giles; and by Gerald Davidson of Mahaffey Pickens Tucker LLP; and by Mike Terry and Laurie A. Taylor of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore. The Hill v. Ford case was settled on August 15, 2025.

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