Case at a glance
- Recovery: Confidential Settlement
- Injury: Second- and third-degree burns to the face, neck, arms and hands
- Practice: Personal Injury
- Attorney: Vuk Vujasinovic
A vehicle fire during lunch-hour traffic
Ryan was 23 when his pickup caught fire between Houston and The Woodlands. He first saw flames to his right and behind him. With other vehicles around him, he could not immediately reach the shoulder.
He suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face, neck, both arms and both hands. After initial treatment at Hermann Hospital, he was transferred to Brook Army Medical Center, where he remained for more than a month.
Doctors treated burns covering about 20 percent of his body. His treatment included three excision and skin-grafting operations.
Investigating the truck’s interior lighting system
Ryan brought claims against Ford and dealerships associated with the pickup. His fire-cause expert concluded that the fire began inside the passenger compartment near the right passenger door, rather than in the truck bed.
The expert identified damaged wiring connected to the interior lighting system and offered the opinion that an electrical overcurrent had caused the fire. The investigation also examined Ryan’s earlier visits to a dealership for interior-lighting problems and a Ford service bulletin concerning a module connected to that system.
Ford disputed that explanation, making the fire’s origin and the electrical evidence central issues for trial.
Ford offered a different explanation
Ford denied that the truck was defective. It argued that the fire began in the truck bed and involved batteries Ryan was carrying for alarm systems. Ford also challenged whether the interior lighting circuit could produce the fire described by Ryan’s expert.
The defense pointed to differences between Ryan’s initial observations and his expert’s conclusions. The case therefore required presenting the physical evidence while addressing competing accounts of how the fire started.
The case reached a jury
Trial began on May 13, 2002. During jury selection conducted by Vuk, two prospective jurors reported that they owned 1997 Rangers and had experienced interior-lighting problems.
After Ryan’s fire expert testified, the judge addressed evidence of other Rangers that had experienced lighting problems and fires. The court indicated that it would admit evidence of certain prior incidents if Ford argued that Ryan’s explanation was physically impossible.
A confidential settlement during trial
Ford agreed to a confidential settlement after the fire expert’s testimony and before a recorded deposition of Ryan’s treating surgeon was presented to the jury.
Ford’s settlement exceeded three times the amount it had offered at mediation.
Questions about the case
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