Good for the Judge

[RCSignals]

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1095141378190020.xml

[SHERIFF]

quote: Although other car companies sell police-package autos, the Ford Police Interceptor is the only practical option for the state to purchase, Beychok said. "We don't have anywhere else to go," he said.



Damn crybabies. Want their cake and eat it too.

Jesus, what is wrong in this world? They sue somebody for selling them an unsafe car, then sue them because they won't sell the same unsafe car to them any longer. The judge should have taken the plaintiff's attorneys out in the back of the courthouse and whipped their butts with a leather belt! :)

[TripleTransAm]

LOL! Hilarious link, thanks for posting that.

No, Sheriff, they want their cake, want to ***** about it, then eat it, and then want more. You're right, some things just defy logic...

[jspradii]

I live in Bossier City (across the river from Shreveport), and whoever convinced those morons to sue over this issue should've lost his job. Shreveport has started to replace some of its CVPI's with, gasp!!!!IMPALAS, and every officer on the force I've talked to is quite pissed!

[RCSignals]

MEDIA ALERT: First Crown Vic Police Car Class Action Lawsuit Goes to Trial on Monday in Illinois

September 13, 2004

CENTREVILLE, Illinois—The first class action lawsuit over the safety of the Ford Crown Victoria police car—the workhorse of law enforcement nationwide—goes to a jury trial here on Monday.

St. Clair County and the City of Centreville are suing Ford Motor Co. on behalf of all counties, municipalities and public agencies in the State of Illinois that have purchased or leased the vehicles and currently use them. The case is being heard by Circuit Court Judge Lloyd Cueto, Twentieth Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County.

At least 14 law enforcement officers have burned to death in Crown Victoria police cars following high-speed rear collisions that punctured and ignited fuel in the car's gas tank, which is vertically mounted behind and outside the car's axle.

The lawsuit accuses Ford of fraudulent concealment of known fuel system dangers. The suit claims that Ford was aware of dangers of rear-impact fires and burn deaths, but that it concealed the dangers, in part by misrepresenting the safety of the vehicles and the availability of remedies to the problems. It also accuses Ford of violating the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and of unjustly enriching itself by conscious wrongdoing.

The suit asks that Ford be required to compensate law enforcement agencies for the costs of retrofitting or repairing police cars to an adequate level of safety, punitive damages under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, and to return up to $75,000 in profits from the sale of defective Crown Victoria police cars to each named plaintiff.

Class action lawsuits specifically exclude wrongful death or personal injury plaintiffs. In this case, the named plaintiffs, St. Clair County and the City of Centerville, are suing as representatives of other cities, counties and public agencies in the State of Illinois, which use the vehicles for law enforcement purposes. Before being allowed to proceed, the case went through a "class certification" process in which the court found that it should be allowed to proceed as a class action. During that process, cities, counties and public agencies were offered the opportunity to "opt-out." The vast majority of the cities, counties and public agencies in Illinois, including the City of Chicago, Cook County, the City of Springfield and the State Police, elected to remain in the class.

[RCSignals]

Class-action status in Okaloosa suit against Ford Interceptors

Associated Press


SHALIMAR, Fla. - A judge Tuesday said police agencies around Florida can join a lawsuit filed by Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris over Ford Motor Co.'s Crown Victoria Police Interceptors.

Morris claims the popular police cars are unsafe because a number have exploded in flames when hit from behind.

Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron granted class-action certification to the suit, meaning city and county police agencies and other Florida "political subdivisions" that buy or lease Police Interceptors can join if they wish.

The case will apply to Police Interceptor models from 1992 to now.

Both sides said they're ready to prove their case.

"We're very pleased," Don Barrett, one of Morris' attorneys, told the Northwest Florida Daily News. "Law enforcement strongly supports this litigation."

Ford's chief attorney in the case, David Cannella, said, "We look forward to defending this vehicle. It's a fine vehicle. It's a safe vehicle."

Morris filed the suit two years ago. He claims the cars' fuel tanks are dangerous because they're placed behind the rear axle. As a result, Morris contends, police cars have burst into flames when struck from behind, sometimes killing the officers inside them.

His attorneys said on Tuesday that there have been 14 accidents nationwide in which Interceptors caught fire after being rear-ended.

Ford attorneys argued that the 14 accidents cover just .01 percent of Police Interceptors on the road, and say none happened to an Okaloosa County patrol car.

They also say the company has installed protective shields on the back ends of the cars to make them safer during rear-end collisions, and that the cars have gotten five-star crash ratings from federal vehicle-safety inspectors

[RCSignals]

It's not about the money


Officer burned in Crown Vic settles suit



Jason Schechterle

Phoenix officer, Ford reach deal

Judi Villa and Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 11, 2004 12:00 AM


It wasn't about the money when Phoenix police Detective Jason Schechterle sued Ford Motor Co. for negligence after he was horribly burned in an on-duty crash.

His lawsuit and others like it effectively made the nation's most popular police cruiser safer for officers across the country.

On Tuesday, Schechterle and his lawyer announced a confidential settlement with Ford. The auto giant also recently settled with the family of Chandler police Officer Robert Nielsen, who was killed in June 2002, as well as with the families of officers killed in similar fiery crashes in New York, Texas and Florida. The dead officers burned alive after their Crown Victoria police cruisers exploded on impact.

"I did not want this to happen to any other officer," Schechterle said when his settlement was announced to The Arizona Republic.

"We're not just statistics on a piece of paper. The officers driving these cars have families. They have lives. Ford makes these cars, and they have the obligation to make them safe under any driving conditions."

As a result of the lawsuits, the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, once maligned for its fuel-tank design and placement, has undergone changes to make it less likely that the tanks will rupture in hard rear-impact crashes.

Last year, Ford agreed to install a system of safety shields to Crown Victoria fuel tanks to protect them from punctures on impact. Ford subsequently offered an optional fire-suppression system in its Police Interceptors, starting with 2005 models.

Phoenix attorney Patrick McGroder said remedial efforts made by Ford have saved the lives of as many as five law enforcement officers across the country in the past year.

The settlements announced Tuesday end wrongful-death and personal-injury litigation stemming from four crashes in Arizona since 1998 that killed three law enforcement officers and injured Schechterle.

Terms are confidential.

"I would hope that the toll taken in terms of lives had a far greater impact on presenting a great impetus on Ford to help solve this problem than mere dollars and cents," McGroder said. "To their credit, Ford Motor Company has made significant changes in these vehicles, and I commend them for that."

Safety proponents say the placement of the fuel tank, behind the rear axle and ahead of the trunk, made the cruisers prone to punctures from suspension and brake parts.

Many police forces, including those in Phoenix, Mesa, Paradise Valley and Chandler, have installed fuel-cell bladders, inspired by race cars, inside the tanks of their Crown Victoria police cars. The bladders fit inside the existing fuel tanks and are designed to prevent leakage after a crash. The police agencies are installing bladders at their own expense.

"I sleep better at night knowing our police cars have the shields and bladders," Schechterle said. "I do believe that those are safer."

At least 15 police officers nationwide have died in post-collision fires in the Crown Victoria. On July 23, an Arlington, Texas, police officer was seriously burned on his legs after his patrol car was rear-ended by a sport utility vehicle during a traffic stop.

Ford has steadfastly claimed that the patrol cars and their fuel tanks are safe and that the rear-impact crashes were so severe that the tank punctures were not preventable.

Crown Victorias, which make up about 85 percent of the nation's police-car fleets, are favored by law enforcement agencies for their sturdy rear-wheel-drive, full-frame design; roomy interiors and trunks; and powerful V-8 engines.

Schechterle said he remains committed to ensuring the safety of police cars: "My worry that other police officer families will go through this still looms very heavily."

He has undergone 46 surgeries since a speeding taxicab slammed into the back of his patrol car on March 26, 2001. The cruiser, hit at an estimated 115 mph, burst into flames, and Schechterle suffered disfiguring burns to his face, neck, head and hands.

He was rescued by firefighters who happened to be at the intersection when the crash occurred.

A priest gave him last rites in the operating room.

But Schechterle has rallied back. Just 10 months after the accident, he jogged with the Olympic torch through Phoenix. And in October 2002, Schechterle's wife, Suzie, gave birth to the couple's third child. Schechterle returned to work in November 2002, at a desk job in Phoenix police's public information office. This year, he became a homicide detective, although he is still on light duty and does not handle his own cases.

"It's always been about the fact that of all the police officers who died, I'm the one who got a firetruck in my intersection," he said. "They should have got the same opportunities to go home to their families.

"We need to make sure this doesn't happen to another police officer."

[Blue03]

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1095141378190020.xml

Well Maybe Ford is missing an opportunity here. Let's see...say the lawsuit and expenses is anticipated to settle for $33,000,000 (keeps the math simple) and the State guys need 1100 Cvpi's. Ford could honor their supply contracts but add a surcharge of $30,000 per car (provided the State guys take all 1100 units) to cover the potiential "true" cost of selling Cvpi's to them. Maybe Ford should also implement an additional surcharge for future units that they might be sued for....But na the judge was right!

[SHERIFF]

Law enforcement agencies nationwide are going to keep raising hell..... until Ford revamps the Crown Victoria into a front wheel drive Impala clone hoping to steal Chevrolet's market from them.

Furthermore, following the above theory..... if the 500 catches on and sells well, I think you will see the Crown Victoria discontinued anyway. Then the crybaby LEOs can cry themselves to sleep every night.

In real life I have not heard ONE OFFICER endorse a lawsuit against FORD over the Crown Victoria. All I hear is sensationalism in the newspapers. :)