On May 4, 2013, plaintiffs’ decedent Felomina Geronga, 44, a nurse from Alameda, was riding in a 1999 Lincoln Town Car with eight friends on their way to a wedding party in Foster City. As they were traveling west over the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, in Foster City, their limousine caught fire. The driver and four of the female passengers — Jasmin De Guia, 34, of San Jose; Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; Nelia Arellano, 36, of Oakland; and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro — were able to escape. However, Geronga, the bride (Neriza Fojas, 31, of Monterey), and three other passengers (Jennifer Balon, 39, of Dublin; Anna Fe Benicia, also known as Anna Alcantara, 46, of San Lorenzo; and Michelle Gi Jonah, also known as Michelle Estrera, 35, of Fresno) became trapped in the vehicle and died in the fire. Felomina Geronga’s husband, Aldrin Geronga, and her two minor children, Abero Geronga and Yoare Geronga, sued the manufacturer of the limousine, Ford Motor Co.; the companies that modified the Lincoln Town Car into a stretch limousine, DaBryan Coach Builders Inc., Accubuilt Inc., and Accubuilt Acquisition Holdings Inc.; the maintainer of the limousine, Bay Area Limo Repair Inc.; and the owner of the limousine, Limo Stop Inc. The families of the other women killed in the accident brought separate actions against Ford Motor, DaBryan, Accubuilt Inc., Accubuilt Acquisition Holdings, Bay Area Limo Repair, and Limo Stop. The matters were ultimately consolidated, and the families of Fojas, Balon, Benicia (Alcantara), and Gi Jonah (Estrera) agreed to accept confidential settlements. (The survivors of the accident — De Guia, Guardiano, Arellano, and Loyola – also brought separate actions against the defendants, but their actions were not joined with the actions brought by the decedents’ families.) In addition, Limo Stop agreed to settle with the Geronga family prior to trial for an undisclosed sum, and serveral other defendants were discontinued or dismissed prior to trial. Thus, the matter proceeded to trial with only the Geronga family’s claims against Ford Motor. However, the jury was allowed to consider Limo Stop’s portion of liability when determining the verdict. Counsel for the Geronga family contended that Ford Motor was aware of a defect in the Town Car that could cause friction between the driveshaft and floor pan, sufficient enough to ignite the interior of the limousine. Counsel argued that Ford Motor knew of the defect for at least 15 years before the accident and that investigators retained by the San Mateo Fire Department had concluded that the source of the fire was due to a failure of the vehicle’s suspension system. Specifically, the investigators found that the vehicle’s driveshaft rubbed on the vehicle’s undercarriage, causing sparks and friction that started the fire in the rear of the passenger compartment. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that, as originally sold, the stretch limousine was weight-restricted to six passengers in the rear, but that when Limo Stop purchased it, the limousine had been modified to allow up to 12 passengers in the rear. Counsel contended that although the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates limousines in the state, registered the converted vehicle to carry eight passengers, including the driver, the vehicle was carrying nine passengers on the night of the fire. Counsel further noted that the commission fined the vehicle’s owner, Limo Stop, $20,000 for being over the limit, but reduced that amount to $5,000 on appeal. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that Ford Motor and Limo Stop were liable for Felomina Geronga’s wrongful death. Ford Motor’s counsel argued that the limousine was routinely overloaded and abused, causing a structural collapse that, when combined with a suspension system failure, led to the fatal fire. Counsel contended that instead of its declared limitations, multiple owners ultimately used the stretch limousine to transport more than six, and up to 10, passengers on a regular basis for more than 10 years. Counsel for Ford Motor also demonstrated that until the subject event, a fire caused by driveshaft friction was unheard of in the automotive industry. Thus, counsel argued that after the Town Car was stretched into a limousine designed for six passengers in the rear, it would routinely exceeded capacity. Counsel further argued that Limo Stop then created an overloading condition that led to the fractures and sagging of the floor structure over time, which resulted in the contact with the driveshaft and subsequent fire., Felomina Geronga died from asphyxiation while trapped in the vehicle fire. She was 44 years old at the time of her death, and was survived by her husband, a daughter who was 12 years old at the time of the incident, and a son who was 10 years old at the time of his mother’s death. During the trial, the last of four women to escape the burning car, Loyola, described a scene of thick, caustic smoke and approaching flames as she crawled through a small partition to the driver’s compartment. Thus, Geronga’s family sought recovery of more than $45 million in damages, including $2.9 million in economic damages.