Tri-City Herald (Washington), "Large vans focus of lawsuit"

          Tim and Frances Bardessono couldn't help but notice the large number of 15-passenger vans on the road as the Prosser couple drove to Seattle. Their daughter, Corinne Bardessono, 15, was killed in December when the 15-passenger Ford van she was riding in hit black ice on Highway 395 near Ritzville and rolled. Belen Campos, 17, also died in the accident. The two girls were classmates at Prosser High School.
          So when the Bardessonos see the large vans, often with church names emblazoned on the side and filled with kids likely headed to or coming home from summer camp, they cringe. The Bardessonos have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Spokane Superior Court. The Bardessonos hope the lawsuits send a message to Ford and the public that the vans aren't safe and should not be on the road.
          "Our hope is for greater awareness, especially for schools, summer camps and day care providers, to use vehicles safer for children and not to put them in Ford 15-passenger vans," said Fabrice Vincent, a San Francisco attorney at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, who is handling the Bardessonos' case.
          In more than 80 percent of single-vehicle accidents that resulted in a fatality, the vans rolled over. That's exactly what happened when the van Corinne Bardessono and Belen Campos were riding in hit black ice. The lawsuit claims Ford knew its E350 van was defective in design and unreasonably dangerous because of its instability and tendency to roll over.