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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.
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.
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 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