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 arising out of a fatal rollover wreck that killed Melvin and Voncile Hill. The case was filed on December 22, 2014, by Kim Hill and Adam Hill, the surviving sons of Melvin and Voncile Hill, who were tragically 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 also awarded $1.7 billion in punitive damages. The jury apportioned 70% of the fault to Ford and 30% of the damages against 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, causing the wreck. Undisputed evidence at the trial showed the wreck was survivable, and the crushing of the roof caused the injuries that led to the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Hill. Pep Boys settled in 2018. This is the largest verdict by far in Georgia history. The case has been litigated for several years and was originally tried in 2018 until Ford’s violation of a multitude of court orders forbidding Ford from injecting into the trial arguments the Court had excluded caused the Gwinnett County State Court to grant a mistrial. The Court subsequently sanctioned Ford. The case was tried in a second trial 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 paralegal Sarah Andrews and another paralegal, and by Gerald Davidson of Mahaffey Pickens Tucker LLP, along with Mike Terry and Laurie Taylor of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore.

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