Two South Carolina residents will be allowed to go forward with a proposed class action lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, a federal judge ruled March 31. The lawsuit is one of several pending against the carmaker over allegations that defects in some of the cars caused them to accelerate uncontrollably.
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Theresa Thomas and Samatha Simpson co-own a 2010 Ford Mustang that they bought from a dealer in Columbia. In 2013, Simpson was driving the Mustang when she experienced an incident of sudden unintended acceleration. No one was injured in the incident, but service technicians at an authorized Ford dealer were unable to identify or correct the issue that caused it, and the plaintiffs were unable to trade in the Mustang to the dealer.
The plaintiffs sued Ford, alleging nationwide class claims for violations of the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and statewide class claims for breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment and violation of the state’s Dealers Act. Ford asked the court to dismiss the claims, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to allege any specific design or manufacturing defect that rendered their car susceptible to sudden acceleration events and that they failed to show any actionable injury from their incident.
Judge J. Michelle Childs denied the motion to dismiss and ruled that the case could proceed, saying that while Ford’s conclusions may ultimately prove correct, she was “reluctant” to dismiss the plaintiffs’ warranty claim at this time, as she could not “conclude with certainty that Plaintiffs are unable to prove any set of facts in support of this claim entitling them to relief.”
Childs also allowed the plaintiffs’ other claims to move forward as well. A claim for unjust enrichment was supported, she ruled, because the plaintiffs alleged they had paid Ford a higher price than what the cars were really worth given their alleged defects. The federal suit can go forward, Childs held, because Magnuson-Moss supplements rather than supplants state law claims, and since the plaintiffs successfully stated a claim under state law, they were also able to state a claim under the federal law.
Johnny Felder of McGowan Hood & Felder in Columbia represented the plaintiffs, along with attorneys from Wolf Haldenstein Alder Freeman & Herz in New York, N.Y. Attorneys from Turner Padget Graham and Laney in Columbia represented Ford.
“We were obviously pleased with the court’s decision,” Felder said. “We agreed with the court’s reasoning and we’re looking forward to getting started with discovery on these various issues.”
The 10-page decision is Thomas v. Ford Motor Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-084-14).
Follow David Donovan on Twitter @SCLWDonovan