Ford Ordered to Pay $1.7B to Family of Georgia Couple Killed in Truck Crash, Plans to Appeal

JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Ford logo

Ford Motor Co. has announced plans to appeal a verdict ordering the company to pay $1.7 billion to the family of a Georgia couple killed while driving one of their vehicles.

The verdict was reached late last week after the deceased's children, Adam and Kim Hill, sued the motor-vehicle corporation over the 2014 rollover crash, which killed their parents Melvin and Voncile Hill.

The siblings claimed in court that a weak and defective roof on their parent's 2002 Ford F-250 directly contributed to their deaths, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Lawyers for the family also submitted evidence that similar defective roofs were responsible for injury or death in around 80 other cases, AP added.

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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Ford dealership

"More deaths and severe injuries are certain because millions of these trucks are on the road," Gerald Davidson from the Hill's lawyers, Butler Prather LLP, said in a statement, reported AP.

"An award of punitive damages to hopefully warn people riding around in the millions of those trucks Ford sold was the reason the Hill family insisted on a verdict," added his colleague James Butler Jr.

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In response, Ford's lawyer William Withrow Jr. said during a Wednesday court session that the company was set on defending itself against accusations that "its engineers acted willfully and wantonly, with a conscious indifference for the safety of the people who ride in their cars when they made these decisions about roof strength," read a court transcript.

"That's not true, and we wanted a chance to put our case to you, and you've patiently listened to it. And we don't think that they've made that case in their presentation today," Withrow added.

A spokesperson for Ford also told PEOPLE Monday that "While our sympathies go out to the Hill family, we don't believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we plan to appeal. In the meantime, we aren't going to litigate this matter through the news media."

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According to a press release from Butler Prather LLP, the crash was partly influenced by the actions of the Pep Boys automotive service chain, which "mistakenly installed the wrong size, or 'load range' tires on the Hills' truck in 2010," NBC News reported.

As such, Butler Prather LLP put 30% of the blame on Pep Boys, per NBC News, and alleged, "That mistake caused the right front tire to blow out, causing the wreck."

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According to the press release obtained by NBC News, however, the evidence presented in court "showed the wreck was survivable, and the crushing of the roof caused the injuries that led to the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Hill."

Butler Jr. said Sunday that he "used to buy Ford trucks" and "thought nobody would sell a truck with a roof this weak," reported multiple outlets including ABC News.

"The damn thing is useless in a wreck," he added. "You might as well drive a convertible."