Calif. couple gets $14.9 million; Ford, lawyer still sparring

BARSTOW, Calif. (Feb. 6)—An Orange County, Calif., couple settled for $14.9 million after a Barstow jury found a Ford dealership liable for the accident that crippled them. Agop and Catherine Gozukawa received $9.4 million from Joe Macpherson Ford, which allegedly made faulty repairs on the Gozukawas' 1994 Ford Explorer, and $5.5 million against the highway construction company that built the concrete barrier on which the Gozukawas crashed in 1997. Garo Mardirossian, the Gozukawas' attorney, said Ford Motor Co. would have to indemnify Joe Macpherson Ford because the jury found the Explorer's design defective. A Ford spokeswoman, however, said Mardirossian was incorrect. "Ford was found not liable for this accident," she said. "The dealership is an individually liable entity. We are not linked in this case."