WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a San Diego court to review a jury's $55 million punitive award against Ford Motor Co., for a woman paralyzed in an SUV accident.
The justices did not overrule the $27.6 million in compensatory damages awarded to Benetta Buell-Wilson, a 51-year-old who was paralyzed after her Explorer rolled over in January 2002.
In her lawsuit, Buell-Wilson alleged Ford's top-selling SUV had been defectively designed and was prone to rollovers.
The high court ruling did not dispute the liability but rather the punitive damages, which in the original 2004 trial were set at $368.6 million, The Los Angeles Times reported. Since then, the punitive amount was reduced first by the trial judge and later by a state appeals court in San Diego, the report said.
Under the high court's ruling Monday, that same appeals court will have to reconsider if the punitive amount is excessive, the report said.
