More Gavel-Banging for Ford

Ford Motor Co. settles what would have been the first case to reach trial since the onset of the Firestone tire recall in the summer of 2000. The carmaker reaches a settlement for an undisclosed amount in the case of a Texas woman killed in a rollover accident while a passenger in a Ford Explorer after a tread separation. Bridgestone/Firestone agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement amount in August to the woman's family. A jury had been selected for the Ford suit and opening statements were to begin when the settlement was reached. Meanwhile, a judge ruled Ford need not be supervised as it offers buyout packages to reduce the white collar workforce by 5,000 by year end. The call for supervision was from a group of managers claiming the carmaker's controversial — and subsequently dropped — employee grading system was targeting older managers. Still to be decided is whether lawsuits against the company can be certified as class actions.