Robert M.N. Palmer, The Law Offices of Robert M.N. Palmer, P.C., and David W. Little, Law Offices of David W. Little, P.C., attorneys for plaintiffs; and Douglas W. Robinson, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P., and Curtis Smith, Chubbuck, Smith, Rhodes, Stewart & Elder, P.L.L.C., attorneys for defendant.

During much of the day on December 2, 2001, 15-year-old Damien Anthony had been cleaning his first car, a 1986 Merkur, at his home in Seminole, Oklahoma. Around 4:00 p.m. Damien went into his house to eat, and then went back out to continue working on his car. Sometime later, Damien's father went out to where the car was parked, and discovered Damien hanging with his body outside of the car, and his neck entrapped by the power window in the driver's side door. Apparently Damien had leaned in through the open window for some reason, and had inadvertently contacted the power window rocker switch on the center console, which caused the power window to rapidly raise, entrapping Damien's neck and left arm, with the glass across his throat. Held fast by the glass on his throat, and unable to reach the center console switch with his entrapped arm, Damien was strangled to death.

Plaintiffs allege that because Ford Motor Company installed a toggle-type power window switch in the 1986 Ford Merkur which allows raising of the window by a person accidentally contacting the switch. The console-mounted toggle switch (also known as a rocker switch or see-saw switch) is activated by downward pressure on one end for lowering the window, and by downward pressure on the other end for raising the window.

One of Plaintiffs' experts would have testified that by accidentally exerting a small 2-pound downward force (average) on the power window rocker switch, the window is activated to exert an upward raising force of between 50 to 80 pounds. Since only 8-12 pounds is required to lift the window glass, the excess available force (40 to 70 pounds) is more than enough to entrap and strangle a person between the glass and the top of the window frame. With an inadvertent touch on the power window rocker switch, the window raises in approximately 2 to 4 seconds, far more quickly than a person generally could move out of the window's path. The unrecessed rocker switch is a dangerous and defective device, since it allows the release of so much deadly energy through relatively minimal accidental contact with the switch.

Ford, and the automotive industry in general, has for decades been aware of the dangers of power windows. Since their introduction into the U.S. market (without any safety controls) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, power windows have been the instruments of death and/or serious physical injury to numerous children and others.

Case settled for a confidential amount on December12, 2002.