Watchdog Groups Seek Release of Ford Roof-Strength Documents

Watchdog group Public Citizen has asked a Florida state court to unseal documents that purportedly show Ford Motor Co. weakened roof-strength standards for the Explorer sport utility vehicle.

The documents were submitted during a trial that ended in March, when a Duval County Circuit Court jury ordered Ford to pay $10.2 million in damages to the husband of a woman killed when the roof of her 2000 Explorer collapsed and fractured her skull during a rollover.

Claire Somera Duncan was driving on Route I-95 in Virginia in May 2001 when she swerved to avoid a merging Winnebago, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband, Scott. The Explorer rolled over five times, with the roof collapsing down on top of the driver's seat, the suit said.

Scott Duncan cited internal Ford documents, including a study purportedly showing that the Explorer has the weakest roof of any sport utility vehicle. Duncan also presented a Ford engineering report recommending that the roof be strengthened.

Ford's attorneys countered that the Explorer met federal standards and that no vehicle design would have protected Claire Duncan given the nature of the accident.

Ford successfully moved in May to seal the exhibits. Public Citizen has the documents — which were available to the public for weeks after the trial, before Ford's motion — but says it has been threatened with legal action should the organization release them.

Public Citizen says keeping the documents sealed violates the Florida Sunshine in Litigation Act and the U.S. Constitution. The Sunshine Act prohibits courts from sealing documents that relate to public safety.

The group is represented by attorneys from Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Washington, D.C.

"To protect the safety of families who travel America's highways in SUVs, Florida's Sunshine Law and the First Amendment require that the shroud of secrecy be lifted from this key evidence," TLPJ's Leslie Brueckner, lead counsel for Public Citizen, said in a statement. "As the jury in this case found, the Ford Explorer is a public hazard, and these documents prove it. Public safety demands that this evidence come to light."