Philippa Ellis Wins Appeal

IADC member, Philippa V. Ellis, a founding partner of the Atlanta law firm, Owen Gleaton Egan Jones & Sweeney, LLP, recently won an appeal for Ford Motor Company. She participated in briefing Ford Motor Company v. Reese, ___ S.E. 2d ___, 2009 WL 2951299 (Ga. App. Sept. 16, 2009), in which the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a $3 million jury verdict. The appellate court found that "the trial court committed reversible error by instructing the jury on a duty to recall when Georgia law does not impose such a general duty upon manufacturers" and concluded that "no common law duty exists under Georgia law requiring a manufacturer to recall a product after the product has left the manufacturer's control. Ellis was also a member of the trial team.