S. Korean professor wins damage suit against Ford

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean professor has won a damage suit against U.S. carmaker Ford and a car conversion company after an automobile accident left him paralyzed, officials at his school said Tuesday. Lee Sang-mook, a professor at Seoul National University (SNU) Earth and Environmental Science department, had a car accident during a geological survey in southern California in 2006. The Ford van that he was driving rolled over and its roof collapsed. A student in the van died and Lee was paralyzed from the neck down due to a spinal injury. He filed the US$4.69 million damage suit in a court of Los Angeles County, California, last year, claiming that Ford Motor Co. was responsible as the vehicle's roof was not strong enough to withstand a possible rollover, according to officials from SNU. Ford argued that Lee's injury occurred before the roof collapsed, but the court in December ordered the automobile company to give Lee US$2.78 million in damages, said SNU. The court also ruled that the automotive company that converted the van into a field trip vehicle compensate him $775,000, it added. Lee resumed lecturing in a wheelchair after months of rehab and published an autobiography about his rehabilitation and life. He is widely known as the "Korean Stephen Hawking" for overcoming his disability and making academic achievements. A separate $200 million damages suit filed by the family of the deceased student against Lee and Ford was dropped in 2009, the school said.