LOS ANGELES - U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte, Jr. has granted Ford Motor Co. all its costs - $18,923.43 - in one of thousands of powershift transmission products liability cases being litigated in the Central District of California.
Birotte ruled June 16 in the case brought by plaintiff Mark Pedante, represented by Knight Law Group attorneys Steve Mikhov and Roger Kirnos. Pedante went to trial last November with jurors finding in his favor on only one of five claims, breach of express warranty-violation of Song-Beverly Act - the state's lemon law. He was awarded $21,721.69 in stipulated damages and $43,443.38 in civil penalties, for a total judgment of $65,165.07.
The Pedante case stands out as Knight Law attorneys petitioned for an award of fees of $385,996.25, plus a lodestar multiplier of 1.4 in the amount of $154,398.50, for a total of $540,394.75.
Ford has challenged the request in part argung that Pedante could end up owing the IRS more money than he will recover in damages given the exorbitant fees sought.
The company says that Pedante would have fared far better had he accepted its settlement offer of $75,001, made one month after the case was first filed in October 2016. It further argues that not only could Pedante owe the government more than he recovers, he would also have to turn over his 2013 Focus to Ford at a date and time to be arranged by the parties.
Ford further argues that Pedante did not prevail at trial. While he was awarded damages and penaltes on breach of express warranty violations, jurors found in favor of Ford on four other counts that were dismissed with prejudice: breach of implied warranty, fraudulent inducement-concealment, fraudulent inducement-intentional misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement-negligent misrepresentation.
While COVID-19 essentially shut down civil litigation proceedings since Knight Law petitioned for fees in February, Birotte held a telephonic hearing May 13 on plaintiff's motion.
On May 21, Birotte indicated he would not resolve Knight Law's motion for attorneys fees until "after the parties further meet and confer on mechanisms for Liaison Counsel to seek payment for common benefit work. Ideally, the parties should include in their discussions common benefit fees already sought in the Pedante motion."
In the last six years, more than 30,000 complaints have been filed against the auto industry in California courts and each year since 2015 that number has grown.
Pedante's case belongs to multidistrict litigation involving DPS6 transmissions in certain Ford Fiesta and Focus vehicles.
The auto manufacturer that has faced the most lemon lawsuits is Ford, and by a wide margin. Since 2015, it has been hit with at least 8,791 complaints. General Motors faces the second greatest number of suits with at least 5,612.