Ohio Supreme Court to hear Linert crash case

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal arising from a civil case concerning an Austintown police officer, who was seriously hurt in a fiery, high-speed, rear-end crash caused by a drunken driver.

The Ford Motor Co. filed the appeal. Ford was the maker of the 2005 Crown Victoria police cruiser the officer was driving at the time of the crash.

In July 2011, a jury ruled in favor of Ford in a $19 million lawsuit filed against Ford by former Officer Ross J. Linert and his wife, Brenda.

The lawsuit alleged the officer was badly burned because of defects in the cruiser.

Ford maintained it made a safe vehicle that it characterized as “the police car of choice.”

Ford is appealing a 7th District Court of Appeals finding that visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran, who presided over the trial, erred by failing to instruct the jury concerning Ford’s duty to inform customers it had increased the thickness of the metal-crimp overlap, where gasoline is sent from the fuel tank to the engine, in 2007 to make the cruiser more crash-worthy.

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com