Our client, the plaintiff, purchased a brand new 2014 Focus for $40,007, including add-ons and financing. Within three days, the transmission began to slip and shudder. He took the Ford Focus back to the dealer for nine different transmission repairs during the three years he owned the vehicle, and 10 times for other repairs. Despite numerous repair attempts, the transmission continued to shudder, overheat, and slip, making the car dangerous and unsafe to drive. He used the car to drive to and to take this mother to her medical appointments, including dialysis. One day, when the transmission was overheating, she missed her appointment when they were stuck on the side of the road because of the defective transmission. When he requested a repurchase, Ford refused and the Plaintiff was forced to hire experienced California Lemon Law attorneys.

The lawsuit claimed Ford both violated California’s Lemon Law and fraudulently concealed the defects in the DPS6 dual clutch transmission. Just before jury selection began, Ford admitted it had willfully violated California’s Lemon Law and stipulated to a Lemon Law verdict against Ford.  Because Ford’s California Lemon Law violations were willful, in addition to refunding the Plaintiff’s actual, incidental, and consequential damages, Ford also agreed to pay a maximum two-time civil penalty, totaling $132,141.03, plus attorney fees and other costs. The only claims remaining at trial were the fraud claims.  After three weeks of trial, thousands of pages of documents, expert testimony, and numerous motions by Ford, in less than an hour the Los Angeles jury returned the first fraud verdict in the United States against Ford Motor Company for the DPS6 defective transmission.  The jury  awarded compensatory damages in the amount of $54,364 and $500,000 in punitive damages.  The total judgment in this case against Ford Motor Company was $632,141.03, plus Ford was ordered to pay plaintiff’s attorney’s fees and costs.

UPDATE:  April 26, 2020.  This week begins the payments to owners of similarly defective Ford Focuses and Fiestas that had the DPS6 Transmission who did not opt out of the class action.  According to the Class Action Settlement, each owner could be be receiving as little as $20 but might be getting as much as a buyback.(roughly $20,000)  Unlike the results achieved on behalf of our client which included a full double civil penalty, payments to the members of this Class Action Settlement dot not include Civil Penalties damages or fraud damages.  This illustrates why hiring experienced California Lemon Law attorneys like the successful lawyers at Wirtz Law APC can be more beneficial than remaining in a class action.

For more information call the experienced trial attorneys at 000-000-0000 for a free case evaluation.