https://san.com/cc/hoodwinked-ford-sues-ca-lemon-law-lawyers-for-100-million-over-legal-fees.
We need the cool hundred this summer to supplement lying about paid subscribers to keep the lemon squeezing
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The jokes write themselves, in this case, “right”.
“ Ford accuses law firms of abusing their positions in the court
Ford says these law firms are taking advantage of a law meant to protect consumers to fraudulently enrich themselves.”
https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/ford-files-shocking-300-million-rico-lawsuit
Um, this was the plot of the 1993 movie, The Firm, starring Wilfred Brimley. JF just watched this old movie and he is having delusions again.
At the beginning, I wanted to think that this whole thing with the subscribers was human error, something that Jim Farley shared in his desperation. It was an eleventh-hour effort to rescue the mission. But… judging by the behavior of the investment fund’s representative, the recent actions, the interventions they’ve made, I have been convinced otherwise. Farley is the tip of the iceberg of the larger problem. As was recognized by this thread, it is impossible to have this go on and have no one be the wiser. The fund and its representatives… are complicit in this fraud. They are fully involved in it! That’s why they defended him, pushed whistle-blowers out, and even resorted to blackmail for example in Model e. When one finally tried to make some noise privately, retaliation only intensified!
- Ford Motor Co. filed a federal lawsuit on May 21 under the RICO Act against three California law firms for billing fraud
- The complaint alleges a years-long scheme to inflate legal fees in Lemon Law cases, spanning over 5,000 claims
- Ford demands repayment of more than $100 million in unearned fees plus treble damages under RICO
- Investigators uncovered fictitious time entries, including billing over 24 hours in a single day
- One lawyer reportedly logged a physically impossible 57.5-hour workday on at least 66 occasions
- Fake entries date from 2018 and were used to seek fees as recently as September 2024
- Knight Law Group’s Steve Mikhov is accused of acting as the ringleader of the scheme
- The Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law APC are also named as co-conspirators
- An internal audit about four years ago first flagged suspicious billing numbers
- Records show attorneys averaged nearly 484 billable hours per month—about 16.5 hours daily, including weekends
- Many billed hours for drafting and reviewing documents without ever participating in trials
- California’s Lemon Law (Song-Beverly Act) obliges automakers to pay attorneys’ fees for successful consumer claims
- Lawyers must provide detailed billing records and justify that their fees are fair and documented
- Ford alleges the defendants abused this law to bill for work that was never performed
- RICO allows prosecutors to hold entire criminal enterprises accountable, not just individuals
- Congress enacted RICO in 1970 to target organized patterns of illegal activity
- Ford warns that other automakers—GM, BMW and Stellantis—may have been similarly defrauded
- The automaker reports having paid these firms over $100 million in Lemon Law settlements since 2015
- Ford is seeking a jury trial to recover the funds and associated damages under the RICO statute
- None of the accused firms have commented on Ford’s lawsuit to date; report contributions by Cole Lauterbach & Devin Pavlou
They are actually seeking 300 and are claiming the bamboozle was 100. Four years ago they started sniffing.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/05/22/ford-law-firms-investigation-alleged-fraud/83788389007/
I sure hope they sniff in their own house as part of some sort of probono for demons they insulated from investigations and “any wrong doing”