CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE.
On March 14, 2012, Bowman and Brooke was asked by Ford Motor Company to step into the lead counsel's role in a six-plaintiff trial, set to begin in two weeks on March 26, 2012, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Orangeburg is one of the more notorious plaintiffs' jurisdictions in South Carolina. In this six-year old cruise control claim, demand from the plaintiff was $15 million.
The plaintiffs claimed a 2003 Ford Focus, had a "stuck" cruise control cable causing severe and permanent injuries. Ford contended their cruise control cable was not defective and rather the driver of the Focus was driving too fast, waited too late to slow down, had nowhere to go and is the cause of this crash. Prior to trial, the judge had struck all the defense expert witnesses. However, as the trial progressed she allowed them back, one at a time. After two and a half days in trial, the case settled. The Court bestowed a begrudging compliment - that this was "a tale of two cases – before Bowman and Brooke, and after."
Moore, Moore, McAnally, McAnally, McAnally, McAnally, v, Ford, Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Plaintiffs were represented by Ronnie Crosby of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, P.A. in Hampton, SC.
Ford was represented at trial by Richard H. Willis, Partner and Courtney Crook Shytle of Bowman and Brooke in Columbia, SC.