— A Ford Super Duty roof crush lawsuit alleges a Washington F-350 truck owner was permanently paralyzed because the 17-year-old F-350 truck roof collapsed in a rollover crash.
Plaintiff Rodney Philbeck purchased a 2003 Ford F-350 Super Duty truck in 2003, but the plaintiff says the dealership failed to warn him, "that the Super Duty roof had been weakened so that it was prone to collapse during a rollover."
On November 30, 2020, Mr. Philbeck was driving his F-350 near Othello, Washington when the truck hit a patch of ice on the road. The lawsuit alleges Mr. Philbeck lost control and the truck went off the road, "rolling at least once before coming to rest on its wheels."
The plaintiff says the roof on the driver’s side was more crushed than the passenger-side, and his neck was broken once the roof collapsed.
According to the plaintiff, his spine was partially severed and he was paralyzed from the chest down. The plaintiff blames his injuries on a "defective roof design that Ford knew was extraordinarily weak."
The lawsuit alleges Ford designed 1999-2007 Super Duty roofs in a way to save money by exploiting a lack of government oversight. But the lawsuit wasn't filed until a jury ruled against Ford in a different roof crush lawsuit to the tune of $1.7 billion.
Following the $1.7 billion jury verdict, multiple Super Duty roof crush lawsuits have been filed regarding Ford’s PHN131 platform which includes F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty trucks.
The roof lawsuit admits when "Ford was designing the PHN131 platform in the 90s, there was no federal roof crush resistance standard applicable to trucks of their size."
According to the lawsuit, Ford had the ability to design a stronger Super Duty roof, but didn't do it until 2017, "when new government regulations finally forced it to do so."
The plaintiff asserts his pain and suffering were directly caused by Ford which chose to place profit before safety.
The Ford Super Duty roof crush lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington: Rodney Philbeck v. Ford Motor Company.
The plaintiff is represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
You can read more about Ford Super Duty crushed roof legal actions below:
- Ford Truck Roof Collapse Lawsuit Filed After Death of Couple
- Ford Truck Roof Lawsuit Dismissed in Death of Mikyley Reitz
- Ford Truck Roof Lawsuit Says 5 Million Trucks Are Defective
- Ford Roof Class Action Lawsuit Includes Super Duty Trucks
- Ford Super Duty Lawsuit Alleges Roofs Crush in Rollover Crashes
- In Re: Ford Super Duty Roof-Crush Litigation