A Georgia jury has delivered a $2.5 billion verdict against Ford Motor Co. in a wrongful death lawsuit, reinforcing claims that the automaker’s Super Duty truck roofs are dangerously weak and have contributed to multiple fatal crashes.
The case stems from an August 2022 rollover crash in which Debra Mills, 64, lost control of her 2015 Ford F-250 Super Crew 4x4 King Ranch truck while navigating a right-hand turn. The truck veered onto the shoulder, struck a drainage culvert, and became airborne before crashing upside down. Mills and her husband, Herman Mills, 74, were both killed in the accident.
Attorneys representing the Mills family argued Ford has been aware for two decades of structural weaknesses in the roofs of Super Duty trucks spanning model years 1999 to 2016, yet failed to take corrective action. According to court filings, more than 5 million of these vehicles contain what lawyers called "dangerously weak, defective and deadly" roof structures.
The verdict follows a similar case in Georgia, where a jury awarded $1.7 billion in a wrongful death lawsuit involving another Ford Super Duty truck rollover. In that case, involving Melvin and Voncile Hill, legal teams presented evidence of 79 similar roof-collapse incidents. Ford appealed the decision, and the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned the verdict, granting a new trial.
Despite these jury rulings, federal regulators, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have not issued any safety recalls or identified structural issues with the roofs of the affected Ford trucks.
The Mills case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia (Columbus Division) under the filing James Edward (Dusty) Brogdon, Jr., v. Ford Motor Company. The plaintiffs were represented by Butler Prather LLP and Page Scrantom Sprouse Tucker & Ford, P.C.
Ford has not yet publicly commented on the verdict or indicated whether it will appeal the ruling.
