Though I personally get a kick out of driving easily flippable SUVs, it’s my understanding that most of the country would rather keep all four wheels fixed firmly to the road*. One such person is Donna Bailey, a single mother who was nearly killed when her Ford Explorer rolled as a result of a design failure worsened by the use of Firestone tires. Though Bailey survived, the accident rendered her a quadriplegic, thus compelling her to sue the bejeezus out of Ford. Bailey turned to consumer-rights attorney Tab Turner, who wound up forcing the automaker to settle for somewhere close to $30 million (without owning up to any wrongdoing). Ford executives also issued a bedside apology to Ms. Bailey.
This case inspired the legal bestseller, Tragic Indifference: One Man’s Battle with the Auto Industry over SUVs, by Adam Penenberg, which, in the yawn-inducing tradition of A Civil Action, is now set to become a feature film executive produced by MarK Cuban’s and Todd Wagner’s 2929 Productions. Starring as the crusading Turner will be Michael Douglas, who’s never at his best playing the idealist, so let’s hope screenwriter Stephen Gerard – who may or may not be the Stephen Gerard who wrote Class of Nuke ‘Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid – finds some rough edges in the character (maybe he’s a compulsive fiddler).
Douglas’s Further Films will produce along with Jon Furay and Manuel Walley. They’ve yet to hire a director, but it looks like Gary Fleder is ridiculously available.
*Pussies.