Attorney Richard Michael Wirtz's Legal Cases

Lemon law

Wirtz Law APC Wins 1st Fraud Judgment in US against Ford Motor Company for $632,141.03 for a 2014 Focus DPS6 Transmission

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OUTCOME: Judgment for Plaintiff for $632,141.03

Our client, the plaintiff, purchased a brand new 2014 Focus for $40,007, including add-ons and financing. Within three days, the transmission began to slip and shudder. He took the Ford Focus back to t ... he dealer for nine different transmission repairs during the three years he owned the vehicle, and 10 times for other repairs. Despite numerous repair attempts, the transmission continued to shudder, overheat, and slip, making the car dangerous and unsafe to drive. He used the car to drive to and to take this mother to her medical appointments, including dialysis. One day, when the transmission was overheating, she missed her appointment when they were stuck on the side of the road because of the defective transmission. When he requested a repurchase, Ford refused and the Plaintiff was forced to hire experienced California Lemon Law attorneys. The lawsuit claimed Ford both violated California’s Lemon Law and fraudulently concealed the defects in the DPS6 dual clutch transmission. Just before jury selection began, Ford admitted it had willfully violated California’s Lemon Law and stipulated to a Lemon Law verdict against Ford. Because Ford’s California Lemon Law violations were willful, in addition to refunding the Plaintiff’s actual, incidental, and consequential damages, Ford also agreed to pay a maximum two-time civil penalty, totaling $132,141.03, plus attorney fees and other costs. The only claims remaining at trial were the fraud claims. After three weeks of trial, thousands of pages of documents, expert testimony, and numerous motions by Ford, in less than an hour the Los Angeles jury returned the first fraud verdict in the United States against Ford Motor Company for the DPS6 defective transmission. The jury awarded compensatory damages in the amount of $54,364 and $500,000 in punitive damages. The total judgment in this case against Ford Motor Company was $632,141.03, plus Ford was ordered to pay plaintiff’s attorney’s fees and costs.

Lemon law

Butte Co. Jury Awards $46,716.54, including 2x Civil Penalty vs. FCA

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OUTCOME: Judgment for Plaintiff for $46716.54

In April 2013, our clients, Melissa and Geoff W. purchased a pre-owned 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 to be Geoff’s primary vehicle. He’d previously always preferred Chevy trucks, but after hearing great things f ... rom friends about how reliable and durable Dodge trucks were, he decided take a shot and give Dodge a chance. Unfortunately, he got saddled with a lemon that didn’t live up to the brand’s hype. The 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 seemed great at first, but less than a year after purchase it began exhibiting catastrophic failures with Oxygen sensor and EGR systems. These failures caused dangerous and unsafe loss of power, surging, and the vehicle to completely die while driving on the freeway multiple times. Geoff would repeatedly pick up the vehicle and be unable to make it home before the problems reoccurred. He took it in four times within the same month, but nothing the dealership did resolved the problems. When Geoff picked up the truck after a month of failed repairs, despite FCA’s assurances that it was fixed, it was still surging and lacking power—he drove it straight over to his local Chevy dealership and traded it in. Later, based on documents produced by FCA in discovery, Geoff learned that the problems persisted for the next owner and were never truly fixed. Melissa called FCA directly after the trade-in to ask for reimbursement under the California Lemon Law, but was improperly told that because they no longer owned the vehicle there was nothing FCA could for them. FCA’s response was invalid for multiple reasons, including the fact that a consumer does not have to keep a defective vehicle to pursue California Lemon Law rights according to to Martinez v. Kia Motors America, Inc., (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 187, 192. After FCA’s rejection of the buyback request, Melissa and Geoff hired counsel to pursue their rights. The case went to trial in Butte County Superior Court, where Melissa and Geoff were represented by California Lemon Law trial attorneys Richard M. Wirtz and Jessica R. Underwood from Wirtz Law APC. After a two week trial, in just under three hours the jury returned a verdict in Plaintiff’s favor and awarded Melissa and Geoff with the maximum damages awardable under the Song-Beverly Act (California Lemon Law): repurchase and a two-time civil penalty, for a total of $46,716.54, plus the court ordered that FCA pay plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees and costs. The jury agreed that FCA had willfully violated the California Lemon Law by refusing to repurchase the vehicle despite the repeated repair visits and serious, unrepaired defects.

Richard Michael Wirtz's Legal Cases (2)

Wirtz Law APC Wins 1st Fraud Judgment in US against Ford Motor Company for $632,141.03 for a 2014 Focus DPS6 Transmission

Butte Co. Jury Awards $46,716.54, including 2x Civil Penalty vs. FCA