Ford Rolling On Rollover Suits

NEW YORK--According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford Motor Co., hit by lawsuits over injuries and deaths from rollovers of its Explorer SUVs, is offering generous settlements to victims and their families in an attempt to settle all the pending litigation.

Ford settled four suits last week and was close to settling another, the paper said. Ford was also trying hard to settle a high-profile lawsuit filed by a Texas woman against the company and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., the paper said.

Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel was quoted in paper as saying “With these cases and with others in the future, we are continuing to try to resolve these claims.”

Ford’s lawyers have been told to apologize on behalf of the company for using the tires, the paper said, noting that the Ford wants to settle the suits because of the scheduled launch of a new Explorer in February, the paper said. Krusel denied the settlement program was related to the release of the new Explorer.

Ford is also in talks to settle a consolidated lawsuit in Indianapolis involving 180 individual claims, the paper said.

Firestone last week said it would recall another 8,000 tires made in Mexico.

To read the WSJ piece, contact http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB978567818778404060.html.