US judge slams attorney incivility as 'the worst' he's seen

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge slammed attorneys on day three of a product liability jury trial against Ford Motor Co., calling counsel's "lack of civility" toward each other "the worst" he's ever seen before he called the jury in Thursday.

Responding to U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte's reprimand -- that consistent bickering and a lack of communication among opposing counsel had caused unnecessary delays -- plaintiff's attorney Mark C. Altman of the Altman Law Group said he had an "excellent working relationship" with Ford's attorneys from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP.

"If this is an excellent working relationship, shame on all of you," Birotte interjected. "Because that is just not what I see, and I worry, quite frankly, that it is impacting the objectivity as it relates to resolving these cases."

"I have seen a lot of trials as a litigator and as a judge, and this is by far the worst," said Birotte, who was previously the U.S. attorney for the Central District, defended white collar crime cases for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and worked for the Los Angeles County public defender's office.

Thursday's bellwether trial is one of four expected to be heard in the coming months brought by car owners who opted out of a class action against Ford to join a multi-district, multi-state litigation seeking damages from the company.

While class and litigation members are of two distinct groups, the result of the multi-district litigation trial now before Birotte will greatly influence future negotiations in the class action settlement, said a class attorney, Washington D.C.-based Michael Kirkpatrick of Public Citizen.

The underlying litigation in the multi-district suit has seen some pre-trial bruises in the form of sanctions. In early April, U.S. Magistrate Judge Frederick F. Mumm ordered plaintiff's counsel from the Knight Law Group LLP to reimburse the car company the costs of attorneys' fees incurred in connection with a deposition in which the jurist said an attorney coached her client.

Tensions boiled over Thursday, after Altman revealed a document he potentially wanted to use during trial had not yet been shared with opposing counsel.

Earlier in the week, the Detroit Free Press reported U.S. Department of Justice criminal fraud investigators have demanded documents related to the transmissions used in about 2 million Ford Fiesta and Focus vehicles sold during the time of the alleged defects in this case.

The class and multi-district litigation members are comprised of current and former car owners who claim their Focus and Fiesta models made between 2011 and 2016 have delayed acceleration and malfunctioning transmissions that caused accidents. Ford faces a potential $4 billion liability, according to reports in the Detroit Free Press.

A $35 million settlement in the class action was approved by Birotte in 2017. However, after Public Citizen challenged how much money would be awarded to consumers, arguing the vast majority of members would have received nothing, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal panel ruled 2-1 to reject it. In September, the panel said the district court had not thoroughly investigated the settlement terms and sent it back to the lower court.

The suit brought by litigation member Mark Pedante, represented by Russell W. Higgins of Knight Law Group, began trial Tuesday with jury selection and some pretrial quibbling about whether Ford, represented by Spencer P. Hugret of Gordan Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, would be allowed to mention the settlement in its opening. Mark Pedante v. Ford Motor Company 17-CV06656 (C.D. Cal., filed Sept. 8, 2017).

Birotte said the trial will likely end next Wednesday.