IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE J
IN AND FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY
X
JEFFREY KASSOWAY, :
Plaintiff, :
V. Civil Action No. /+3j&JjC
JACQUES A. NASSER, MICHAEL D. (,..
DINGMAN, EDSEL B. FORD, II, :
WILLIAM CLAY FORD, WILLIAM CLAY :
FORD, JR., IRVINE 0. HOCKADAY, *
JR., MARIE-JOSEE KRAVIS, ELLEN R. ;
MARRAM, HOMER A. NEAL, JORMA J. :
OLLILA, CARL E. REICHARDT, ROBERT :
E. RUBIN, and JOHN L. THORNTON, ::
Defendants, ::
and
FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Y':
Nominal Defendant. :x
.
DERIVATIVE COMPLAINT
Plaintiff, by and through his attorneys, alleges upon personal
information as to himself and upon information and belief as to all
other matters, as follows:
NATURE OF THE ACTION
1. This is a shareholder derivative action brought pursuant
to Rule 23.1 of the Rules of this Court on behalf of nominal
defendant Ford Motor Company ("Ford" or the "Company") against
certain directors and officers of Ford. The action alleges that
the defendants recklessly or intentionally failed to discharge
their fiduciary duties to the Company and its shareholders by (i)
failing to ensure that the vehicles manufactured and distributed by
the Company were equipped with safe tires; (ii) failing to act
promptly once they knew that the vehicles manufactured and
distributed by the Company were rendered unsafe by the tires
SNIPPETS:
Plaintiff, by and through his attorneys, alleges upon personal
This is a shareholder derivative action brought pursuant to Rule 23.1 of the Rules of this
the defendants recklessly or intentionally failed to discharge
their fiduciary duties to the Company and its shareholders by failing to ensure that the
conduct a recall of Company's vehicles rendered unsafe by defective
mother Martha Parke Firestone is the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone
Defendant Carl E. Reichardt is a member of the Board and has been since 1986.
Ford manufactures and distributes the Ford Explorer.
The reported safety problems with Bronco II should have prompted the Individual Defendants to
The Defendants also failed to ensure that the Company caused the Explorer to be equipped with
tire manufacturers competed to supply tires for the new Explorer, France's Groupe Michelin
Moreover, despite the poor safety records of Explorer's predecessor, Bronco II and of
15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT models mounted on SWs and
the top-selling sport utility vehicle in the United States.
consumers in the United States.
following the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's receipt of approximately 270
such a step would require notifying U.S. officials.
Federal regulators questioned Ford's top executives about these complaints and, in response,
distributor, and near the engine on a number of Ford models, from 1983 to 1995 including some
Ford executives were told that a special Company task force was studying why the ignition
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