Argumentative witness testimony marks Ford liability trial

LOS ANGELES -- Witness testimony turned argumentative in day four of a product liability jury trial against Ford Motor Co. in federal court Tuesday.

The 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.

The individual suit brought by Mark Pedante accuses Ford of concealing transmission defects in Ford vehicles and unjustifiably denying his vehicle buy-back claims. Pedante is represented by Mark C. Altman of the Altman Law Group, who cross-examined Ford's corporate representative and regional warranties manager Jacob Doss on Tuesday.

"You were not only not directly involved in this case, in your deposition you said you had no role in the decision-making with any part of this case. Is that correct?" Altman asked.

"At the time of good faith review, that is correct," Doss answered

"Ford chose you as the designated corporate representative for this case. Why are you here, and not them, to talk about what really happened here?" Altman continued.

"Objection, argumentative," said Ford's attorney, Spencer P. Hugret of Gordan Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP.

U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. sustained numerous objections throughout Altman's cross-examination. After little progress, Doss admitted Ford spent 11 minutes reviewing Pedante's buy-back claim before denying it.

"The ultimate decision that was reviewed up the chain to Mr. Clark, who after 11 minutes of review, had said no. Is that correct?" Altman asked.

"That is correct," Doss replied.

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 the class attorney, Washington D.C.-based Michael Kirkpatrick of Public Citizen. Mark Pedante v. Ford Motor Company, 17-CV06656 (C.D. Cal., filed Sept. 8, 2017).

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 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.

Last 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.