Probate Court Judge approves confidential settlement, avoids declaring a mistrial
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AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis Country probate judge announced Thursday that the jury in a products liability case being tried at UT Law could not reach a verdict, but that a mistrial would not be declared because the parties had settled minutes earlier.
The trial - which pitted Ford Motor Co. against the guardian of an 8-year-old quadriplegic who was five when she was injured in a vehicle collision - has been open to the public and Webcast live from the Eidman Courtroom for the past three weeks. The jury was in its third day of deliberations when Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman, who has been presiding over the case, approved a confidential settlement between the parties with no admission of liabilities.
Speaking to jurors and attorneys in the case, Judge Herman said he had "found a hung jury and all at the same time the parties reached a settlement of this case." Judge Herman, a 1977 UT Law graduate, released the jury telling them the case was over and thanking them for their hard work. "You have all been courageous. You have all been active participants working hard. I know all the lawyers and the family appreciate your efforts and attention," he said.
Attorneys in the case did not provide details of the settlement. The jury had been asked to award future medical expenses for the 8-year-old plaintiff of at least $10 million and additional compensatory damages of more than $30 million.
The products liability case was ancillary to an ongoing guardianship case for Caitlin Poirier under the jurisdiction of the probate court. The 8-year-old third grader and her mother sued Ford Motor Co., the manufacturer of the Ford Windstar van that the Poirier family was riding in when it was hit by a pick-up truck in Pflugerville, Texas, in 1999. The driver of the Ford truck was also a defendant in the suit.
During the trial that began Oct. 16, eight expert witnesses testified on behalf of the plaintiffs and seven testified for the defendants. The actual wrecked vehicles in the case - a Ford Windstar and a Ford F-150 truck - were brought to the Law School during the trial and a replica of the Ford Windstar at issue was reassembled in the courtroom for demonstration purposes.
After the trial, Judge Herman added that the plaintiff, Caitlin Poirier, is "a very sharp-witted young girl with a great family who wants to be a teacher." Poirier attends third-grade in a public elementary school in Pflugerville. He expressed appreciation for the court and the lawyers for use of the Law School's Courtroom.
The following is a synopsis of the case agreed to by attorneys in the case before the trial began:
On Nov. 17, 1999, a 1997 Ford F-150 driven by James Wheland
ran a stop sign and struck from the side a 1996 Ford Windstar carrying the
Poirier family. This trial's primary focus is a product liability/crashworthiness
claim attacking the integrity of the side structure and occupant restraint
system of a 1996 Ford Windstar Van in a side-impact collision. The plaintiff
was five years old at the time of the injury. Now an eight-year-old, ventilator-dependant
quadriplegic, the court-appointed guardian of her estate seeks damages in
an action that is ancillary to the guardianship before the Honorable Guy Herman
in the Travis County Probate Court. There are two other parties represented
by separate counsel in the litigation and more than a dozen testifying experts
on accident reconstruction, automotive design and engineering, biokinetics,
medicine and life-care planning. Experienced and specialized trial counsel
from the Midwest and East coast will be assisted by experienced counsel from
well-known local firms.
Teams of attorneys have been working on this case. They are:
*Both Ivy and Wamsted are graduates of the Law School. Ivy is a 1970 graduate and Wamsted is a 1980 graduate of UT Law.