Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., has filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, on behalf of a young man badly burned and permanently injured when his car burned after a crash. The lawsuit alleges the automobile manufacturer, Ford Motor Company, was aware the design of the 1993 Ford Crown Victoria driven by the victim, 26-year-old Kevin Deandreas Boykins, was dangerous, presenting a significant risk of post crash fires, particularly in rear impacts.

The Ford Pinto is a car that became notoriously associated with fuel-fed crash fires in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the compact vehicle showed a propensity for catching fire when involved in even low-speed crashes. In 1977, an internal memo revealed that Ford was aware of design problems with the Pinto that made it more susceptible to crash-related fires, but that it had deemed the overall benefits of redesigning the automobile - which included preventing an average of 180 deaths each year - to be not worth the cost - an estimated $11 per automobile.

Ford Motor Company is recalling more than 225,000 vehicles because of fire risks. Vehicles involved in the recall are from the 2005 model year and include the Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis and Montego sedans.

A jury awarded more than $43.7 million to the family of a 74-year-old man who died when his Lincoln Town Car caught fire after it was struck from behind.