Ford Moves For Summary Judgment in Power Steering Defect Class Action

Ford Motor Company is seeking to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought by California drivers who say the automaker concealed certain power steering defects in Fusion and Focus cars.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges Ford falsely markets Fusion and Focus cars as having an innovative and safe power steering system, despite knowing the steering system has a number of defects, including a propensity to fail prematurely in normal driving conditions.

In December, the drivers lost a bid to certify three state-based consumer Classes.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh denied the motion on grounds it could not be determined sufficiently whether the drivers suffered actual harm from the alleged concealment of the power steering defect. Judge Koh cited that there were too many individual questions of what the automaker told drivers to grant certification.

Judge Koh’s ruling only allowed for individual claims to proceed. But on Monday, Ford told a federal judge that dismissal of all claims is warranted because the plaintiffs fail to prove damages, even on an individual level.

First, Ford argued in their motion that the drivers’ cannot prove damages, citing that the plaintiffs never produced anything to define the benefit-of-the-bargain damages they seek other than the “complete reimbursement” theory offered by their expert. Noting the court has already excluded this evidence, Ford contends that the plaintiffs cannot establish harm.

Furthermore, claims that the replacement EPAS systems are “worthless” are moot, according to Ford, since all three named plaintiffs had new EPAS systems installed in their cars, with two of them done for free.

“Plaintiffs have no evidence at all to support their recent claim that the replacements are also defective, so this claim should be dismissed for the additional reason that Plaintiffs already have the benefit of their bargain,” the automaker wrote.

A key aspect of Ford’s argument for summary judgment is that the drivers cannot prove their theory that the use of Ford’s electromechanical relays in their vehicles’ EPAS systems renders those systems “prone to sudden and premature failure during ordinary and foreseeable driving conditions.”

“While the court held their defect allegations were sufficiently ‘common’ when considering predominance, the issue now is whether these individual plaintiffs have evidence to prove the merits of their own claims. And none of them has evidence (expert or otherwise) showing that [electromechanical] relays caused their EPAS systems to fail, or even that failure was more likely than if [electromechanical] relays had not been used,” Ford wrote.

Initially filed in 2014 by plaintiff Jaime Goodman, the proposed class action sought damages for a nationwide Class of Ford drivers who purchased or leased Ford Fusion Model Years 2010-2014 and Ford Focus Model Years 2012-2014. The center of the complaint focused on Ford’s promotion of the cars’ power steering system of enhancing vehicle safety, despite allegedly knowing the power steering system was defective.

However, Judge Koh trimmed the claims, ruling the complaint was “unwieldy” and dismissed Goodman’s false advertising and warranty claims.

Goodman then filed an amended complaint reiterating her claims for fraudulent concealment and violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law. Additionally, the amended complaint named two more lead plaintiffs, William Philips and Alison Coburn.

The amended complaint also included a group of non-California residents who similarly allege they were harmed by Ford’s power steering defect. Ford’s motion for summary judgment only pertained to the California Class.

The drivers are represented by Roland Tellis and Mark Pifko of Baron & Budd PC, Adam Levitt, John Tangren and Mary Thomas of Grant & Eisenhofer PA, and Niall Paul and Nathan Atkinson of Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC.

The Ford Power Steering Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Philips, et al. v. Ford Motor Co., Case No. 5:14-cv-02989, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On February 16, 2017, Ford won summary judgment, resulting in several consumers’ claims being tossed from the class action lawsuit.