in 1972, a rear-end accident occurred in california, that killed pinto occupant lily gray and severely burned 13-year-old richard grimshaw. the accident resulted in the court case "grimshaw v. ford motor co.", in which copp testified. due to his concerns, which he had both vocalised and written about internally, copp was effectively fired by being forced to take early retirement just before the case came to review. acting on a tip from a ford employee moonlighting as a detroit cab driver, copp was tracked down and agreed to testify. appearing as an independent automotive safety consultant, copp testified that the highest level of ford's management made the decision to go forward with the production of the pinto, knowing that the fuel tank was vulnerable to puncture and rupture at low impact speeds, knowing that these "fixes" were feasible at nominal cost. the california court of appeal for the fourth appellate district upheld compensatory damages of $2.5 million and punitive damages of $3.5 million against ford, in part because ford had been aware of the design defects before production but had decided against changing the design.