Defective Product Recall Lawsuit

Ford named in lawsuit after drivers death

Details: Parent Category: Lawsuit News Alerts; Category: Defective Product Lawsuit News And Recall Lawyer

months after family members of a Tongan prince killed in a Highway 101 traffic accident filed a civil lawsuit against the Ford Motor Co., the mother of the princess killed in the same deadly rollover has also filed a lawsuit, according to court documents filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Prince Tu'ipelehake, 54, Princess Kaimana Tu'ipelehake, 45, and their driver Vinisia Hefa, 36, died in July 2006 after 19-year-old Edith Delgado's Ford Mustang sideswiped the royal's 1998 Ford Explorer, causing the red northbound SUV to roll multiple times and land on its roof in Menlo Park.

In criminal proceedings, Delgado, whom prosecutors said had been speeding, was weaving in and out of traffic and racing with another SUV. She was convicted of misdemeanor manslaughter and sentenced to two years in jail last year.

In June, the Tongan prince's sons filed a lawsuit against the Ford Motor Co., arguing that the faulty design of the vehicle was the cause of their deaths. At the time, San Jose attorney Richard Alexander, representing the sons and the prince's brother, Mailefihi Tu'ipelehake, described the vehicle as unstable because of its high center of gravity. The vehicle's handling also was compromised because it was retrofitted with oversized tires that were underinflated - factors that Ford should have warned consumers about, Alexander said.

Similarly, the lawsuit filed Wednesday by Mailefihi Tu'ipelehake and Tuna Fielakepa, mother of Princess Kaimana Tu'ipelehake, alleges that the vehicle's high center of gravity contributed to its tendency to rollover and flip; the problem was made worse by an underinflated front right tire. Oversized tires, which raised the vehicle's center of gravity and about which Ford allegedly failed to warn users, are also blamed in the latest court documents.

The prince's brother and the princess' mother also name as defendants the estate of the driver, Vinisia Hefa; and John Hiss III, the vehicle's Palo Alto owner; as well as Edith Delgado and Jose Delgado, the young woman's father. Hefa and Hiss are accused of negligently and carelessly maintaining the modified Ford Explorer.

Philip Welton, the Oakland-based attorney representing the prince's brother and the princess' mother, could not be reached by phone to discuss the case.

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