Jury: Ford must pay $58K to 2013 Fiesta owner

A Los Angeles federal jury ruled last week against Ford Motor Co. in the case of a 2013 Fiesta owner whose car required three new clutches and six transmission repairs in fewer than three years, dealing yet another blow to Ford in a case involving an unfixable defective transmission.

This is the third loss in a row for Ford in cases from consumers who opted out of a class-action settlement related to the DPS6 dual-clutch “PowerShift” transmission used in some 2 million Focus and Fiesta cars sold over a decade.

Ford customers have claimed in legal filings their 2012-16 Focus and 2011-16 Fiesta compact cars were built with transmissions prone to shuddering, slipping, bucking, jerking, hesitation while changing gears, premature internal wear, delays in downshifting and, in some cases, sudden or delayed acceleration.

Many of these vehicles remain on the road today.

Unanimous verdict

The eight-person federal jury took less than 120 minutes to reach a unanimous verdict on Jan. 12 and awarded plaintiff Rodolfo Mejia $58,015.36 after finding Ford willfully violated the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act that’s designed to protect consumers by requiring repair be completed within the warranty period.

The dollar amount awarded to Mejia was the maximum possible in the case, and marks the third time in three trials that a jury found Ford liable under the lemon law for alleged defects in Focus and Fiesta DPS6 PowerShift transmissions, noted Law360.

“Our clients waited a long time for this day to come,” Mejia’s lawyer, Scot Wilson of Knight Law Group LLP, told Law360 after the verdict was read.

Ford spokeswoman Catherine Hargett told the Free Press after the verdict, “We thank the jury for their service and respect the court’s ruling.”

Roger Kirnos of the Knight Law Group told the Free Press on Monday, “We’re hopeful this spurs resolution of the remaining cases.”

Knight Law, which is based in Los Angeles, has more than a dozen cases headed to federal trial, and countless others are pending with other law firms.

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Mejia bought his Fiesta with 15 miles on it in 2013. Problems with a significant shaking or “shudder” began only months after the sale, and continued for two years until he finally traded it in, he testified during the three-day trial, Law360 reported.

Eleven months after trading the Fiesta in, he sought reimbursement for the vehicle, which Ford denied.

Only 10 days in the shop

Amy Maclear of Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, represented Ford, and she told the jury during her closing argument Thursday that the evidence showed Mejia drove the car roughly 25,000 miles during the 814 days he owed the car, and that it was only in the shop for 10 of those days.

Mejia also never had to pay out of pocket for repairs of the “shudder” problem, and Ford’s own expert showed test videos of Fiesta and Focus models demonstrating that the shudder problem was minor, she said. Mejia also never asked for Ford to replace or repurchase the vehicle when he owned it, said Maclear, according to Law360.

But Wilson told the jury that the lemon law does not require a customer to stop driving a car that has significant problems, Law360 reported. What does matter, he said, is whether the company failed to repair the car to be in compliance with the warranty after a reasonable number of attempts.

The fact that Mejia didn’t ask for the car to be replaced or repurchased is also not required under the lemon law, he said.

Wilson reminded the jury of internal Ford communications entered into evidence that he characterized as showing Ford engineers knew of DPS6 PowerShift transmission shudder problems before Mejia ever bought his car, and that they didn’t have a fix for it.

Mejia filed his suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2017, with the complaint later being removed to federal court. Mejia sought reimbursement for the vehicle plus civil penalties up to twice the vehicle’s value under California law.

The jury’s verdict awarded Mejia $19,782.75 as restitution for his 2013 Ford Fiesta, plus the maximum civil penalty of $38,232.61.

Two previous trials ended in verdicts that went against Ford and awarded damages of roughly $64,000 and $22,000, although the second verdict was overturned by U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr., Law360 noted.

More:Ford Focus, Fiesta cars sit in shop for months, owners ‘ghosted’ by automaker

More:2017-19 Ford Fiesta, Focus owners allege DPS6 transmission defect never fixed, sue

More:Appeals court: Ford committed fraud by selling defective Super Duty trucks

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2013 Fiesta owner wins $58K from Ford for defective transmission