Ms. Benetta Buell-Wilson of San Diego, California was awarded $82.6 million in personal injury damages from Ford after a crash in 2002. She had swerved to avoid a metal object and lost control of the 1997 Explorer she was driving, causing it to roll four and a half times. Ms. Buell-Wilson was paralyzed when the roof collapsed on her neck, severing her spine. The award was one of the biggest personal injury awards ever filed against an automaker, and the first damage against Ford involving the rollover of an Explorer.
