The Associated Press
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A jury in the first class-action lawsuit filed over the safety of Ford’s Crown Victoria police cruisers ruled Friday that the cars are safe, but a judge must now decide if the automaker violated state consumer fraud laws.
Class-action suits are pending in at least 12 states over the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a specially built police cruiser that accounts for the majority of police cars on U.S. streets.
At least 15 officers nationwide since 1983 have died in fiery crashes after their Crown Victorias were rear-ended - including one in Texas last month.
None of those deaths were in Illinois, but the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office and nearby Centreville Police Department sued Ford in 2002. They accused the Detroit automaker of fraud and deceptive trade practices in a bid to force the company to retrofit cruisers with special safety equipment.
The jury was asked to decide whether Ford committed fraud by failing to disclose alleged problems with the car to law enforcement agencies. But jurors ruled Friday that the car was safe, dismissing the fraud count.
“It’s a terrible thing that someone has to die, but their cars are no more dangerous than other Crown Victorias on the road now,” juror Judy Burgess told the Belleville News-Democrat.
Attorneys for the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office and the Centreville Police Department did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press for comment Friday.
Lawyers for Ford argued during the trial in Belleville that the vehicle is safe - but officers are more likely to travel at high speeds and park at the sides of highways, creating a higher risk for serious accidents.
“To have 12 folks unanimously agree that the Number One police vehicle in the U.S. is safe is very important and significant to Ford,” said Ford attorney Jim Feeney.
St. Clair County Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto now must rule on three remaining counts.
Under Illinois law, Cueto has to decide whether Ford engaged in deceptive trade practices, violated Illinois consumer fraud laws, and unjustly enriched the company by the fraud.