Essay 1 prompt
After watching the Ford Pinto video, reading Mr. Keller’s Ford Pinto article and the NHTSA articles containing pertinent statistics write an essay exploring the questions below.
Your essay should:
contain between 1000 and 1500 words (word count includes the questions below -~500 words)
Also – if you exceed word count, that is fine. I am terrible at figuring out how many words students need to fully explore this topic. So err on the side of more – rather than less…
be written in 12 point Garamond, Times New Roman Cambria, Arial, Tahoma font and single-spaced
include the questions below in italics (simply copy and paste them into your Word document) and your answers to them after each question
be submitted by one team member as a Word document on Canvas on due date noted in the Canvas Assignments tab
In your opinion, was Ford negligent in bringing the Pinto into production?
Applying your knowledge of negligence law, explore fully
Could claimants/plaintiffs hold Ford liable under any other theory of recovery?
What theory of recovery? Why?
What would a claimant have to prove in order to recover money damages under this theory of recovery?
Assume that a 20 year old woman who had a budding modeling career suffered serious injuries in a crash involving her Ford Pinto where her car was rear ended in a collision with another driver in Ohio. She incurred $200,000 in medical expenses and had a permanent disfiguring burn injuries to her arms and face. Assume further that you are her lawyer – you have filed a lawsuit against Ford in Federal Court in Ohio asserting negligence and strict products liability. Prior to trial you begin negotiating with Ford’s lawyer to resolve the case.
In general – what are the defenses to negligence claims?
Are any of these defenses ones that Ford could assert?
What type of damages could your client recover?
Explain why you believe your client is entitled to recover these damages.
What is your opening demand to settle the case?
Does Ford have some arrows in its quiver when it comes to negotiating damages they might have to pay?
In order to gain an understanding of your knowledge base, before reading Jared Keller’s 2017 article, had you heard about Ralph Nader and his influential 1966 book “Unsafe At Any Speed?”
Did you know that promoting safer automobiles was not a movement that came from the auto industry?
Identify 3 things you learned in this article that surprised you.
Why do you think automobile executives in the mid-1960s were so vehemently opposed to implementing safety regulations in their industry?
What conclusions do you draw from the statistics referenced in Keller’s article and in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) paper exploring automobile deaths between 1899 and 2009?
Are you familiar with executives in other industries making similar protests against regulations of their industries in today’s world? Explore after doing some independent research.
Mr. Keller writes in his article, “regulations cannot only protect humans and the environment from the excesses of market-driven industries, but actually benefit those industries.“
Is there evidence to back up Mr. Keller’s bold statement?
In the past?
In today’s world? Explore fully.
https://thelongandshort.org/enterprise/ralph-nader-car-safety-regulation
https://lcob.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/BA+7010+The+SECRET+Ford+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Want+You+To+Know/1_fsmzmxvg
Case Study
B&D TRUCKING CO.CASE STUDYFACTSB&D trucking is a Cincinnati-based trucking company owned by father and son, Brad and Dave Doran. They have several long-haul contracts with the United States Postal Service to deliver bulk mail from city to city. While a number of their contracts are local, a couple of their contracts take them in to the Carolinas. The company employs 50 full-time truck drivers and a number of part-time truck drivers. Last year the company pulled down over $20 million in gross revenues.Last summer, one of B&D’s drivers, Bud Ferguson, 60-year-old man who driven semi-trucks most of his adult life, was making a run from his home in Atlanta to pick up a load of mail in the Carolinas for delivery in Florida. Shortly after Ferguson picked up his load in North Carolina at 6 AM, he stopped at a rest area for 20 minutes. He left the rest area just before 7 AM and got on an entrance ramp to one of the main interstates traveling southbound. As he was merging onto the highway, his truck drifted into the left hand lane of traffic tangling up with a Dodge Ram pick-up truck hauling a bass boat on a trailer.The Dodge Ram was driven by Jim Peterson, 35-year-old trial lawyer. Peterson had just made partner in his law firm. He also had just gotten married the summer before the accident. The two vehicles, traveling at the speed of about 60 miles an hour, veered into the grassy median and crossed over it into the northbound lane of traffic. There, the two vehicles (Bud and Jim’s) ran head on into another semi-truck traveling northbound at 60 miles an hour. The northbound semi-truck was driven by William Scott. Will Scott was 42 years old, married and had three children. The youngest is two years old. The oldest is 16.Bud and Will were killed instantly and pronounced dead at the scene. Somehow, Jim Peterson survived, but suffered devastating injuries. He was brain-damaged and paralyzed on his left side. He spent five weeks in the hospital and underwent three surgeries. He incurred $500,000 in medical expenses and will require ongoing medical help the remainder of his life. The injury to his brain made it impossible for him to speak clearly despite months of occupational and speech therapy. B&D has $1 million in insurance coverage with Cincinnati Insurance Company. The minimum coverage required for a trucking company by the Department of Transportation is $750,000 pursuant to federal regulations.Lawsuits were filed by all three drivers against B&D. Jim Peterson‘s lawyer is the most aggressive. William Scott‘s lawyer just wants to settle as soon as possible. Bud has a tough claim because he was employed by B&D Trucking.The going-concern value of B&D is fairly substantial. But the company’s liquidation value is not. The only thing they own is a fleet of used trucks and trailers. The company leases the terminal properties where they run their business operations.
