Pinto Ruling

A charge of company crime

In a decision that could have wide implications for corporations, an Indiana superior court judge last week refused to dismiss a homicide indictment against the Ford Motor Co. Unless Ford gets the decision overturned on appeal, the company will be tried on charges of reckless homicide. The charges, brought by a county grand jury, stem from an August 1978 accident involving a 1973 Pinto. Three girls died in the car when it burst into flames after being slammed in the rear.

Ford has been hit with more than 50 civil lawsuits charging negligence in placing the Pinto's gas tank far in the back of the car, where it is vulnerable to rear-end collision damage. In June 1978, Ford announced the recall of 1.5 million Pintos built between 1971 and 1976 to remedy this defect, which does not exist in later models. But the Indiana case is the first in which Ford--or any automaker--has been charged with a criminal offense.

The case is based on an Indiana criminal code provision adopted in 1977 permitting corporations to be charged with criminal acts; 22 other states allow this. Ford contended that it should not be tried ex post facto on a 1977 law for a car built in 1973 involving an accident in 1978. But the judge bought the prosecutor's argument that the charge was not based on the Pinto design fault, but rather on the fact that Ford had permitted the car "to remain on Indiana highways, knowing Full well its defects." Manufacturers, said the prosecutor, should be "on notice that if they have a defective product, and know about it, they should do something about it." A jury will decide the issue when, and if, the case is tried.

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