Ford, Oklahoma dealers sued over fatal New Mexico SUV crash

By Jim Greene

Published on August 23, 2005

Defense attorneys claim there is no direct evidence, only supposition, to support the family's claim. They say the accident was due to driver error.

The trial began today in Norman, Okla., in the deaths on July 26, 2003 of Thomas Brown, 31, his sister Elizabeth Smith, 34, and Smith's two-year-old son Noah. The family claims a defective right front wheel bearing failed, causing the vehicle to swerve into an oncoming 2000 Ford pickup towing a fifth-wheel trailer on U.S. 64 near Raton, N.M. The occupants of that vehicle, Milton and Thelma Austin, 68 and 64, were also killed.

Smith purchased the Expedition two days before the accident from Reynolds Ford of Norman, named in the suit along with Five Star Ford of Oklahoma City, where work had been done on the wheel bearing. The vehicle had 32,000 miles on the odometer at the time of purchase.

Plaintiffs' attorney claimed Five Star Ford mechanics replaced the right front bearing and tightened the left front bearing, but must have missed a related problem, because, they say, the brakes and steering failed when the bearing came apart.

Defense attorneys say the bearing was damaged during the accident.

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