The Court of Appeals 9th Circuit reversed a jury’s 52 million punitive damage award because of numerous errors in the instructions to the jury. In White v. Ford Motor Co. ___ F.3rd _____, 2007 WL 2445952 (9th Cir. 2007) A three year old child was killed when a Ford F-350 pickup truck rolled over him in the family’s driveway. The Court of Appeals in a prior decision, 312 F.3rd 998 (9th Cir. 2002), had affirmed a compensatory damage award because of defects in the parking brake, however, it ordered a retrial on punitive damages.
The Court of Appeals said the trial court erred on retrial in failing to give a harm-to-non-parties instruction in light of Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 127 S.Ct. 1057 (2007) and ordered a retrial on that basis.
The Court also held that the court erred failing to instruct the jury and said “We conclude that the district court abused its discretion by not telling the jury: (1) the amount ordered to the Whites in compensatory damages; (2) that the first jury found Ford’s brake defect did not proximately cause the accident; and (3) that the Whites were 40% responsible for the accident.”