“We are satisfied with the judge’s decision,” Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley told Reuters. “We feel that although the case is without merit and we proved that in court, we also believe the settlement is right for our customers.” Well duh. Some 800k Ford owners and lessees file a class-action lawsuit against the Blue Oval Boyz for lost value– due to the whole Firestone/Explorer rollover deal– and FoMoCo gives them a discount towards the purchase of a new Ford. We’re talking certificates good for $500 off a new Explorer, or $300 off any other Ford, Mercury or Lincoln product. Oh, and the plaintiffs’ lawyers get $25m. Hang on. Say half of those people buy a new Ford. Excluding Ford’s own legal fees (which are probably part of their normal overhead) and the discount itself (as usual), the marketing cost for those “disgruntled customers'” sales will cost Ford just $62.50 each. Given the money to be made on trade-ins and re-financing… Call me crazy, but this class action lawsuit thing sounds a genuine business opportunity. [props to Cammy Corrigan for the link]
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Classic class action bullshit. maybe the lawyers should get discount coupons for lincolns. These guys are always going on about taking on the big guys for the little guy and it’s really about wealth redistribution.
Check out http://www.overlawyered.com for more
Typical Detroit mentality where the Big 2.8 still thinks that we need them more than they need us. Newsflash to Ford: The 50s are over. You screw over your customers and they won’t be back.
Now if only they had a nifty marketing name for it something like, “Ford: Sue One.”
$500 wouldn’t pay for a decent set of non-Firestone tires. A son of a family friend had one of these with the Firestones, the tire blew, the Explorer ended up on its side. He didn’t sue even though he received injuries, he knew that the tire was low. Ford thanked him 3 years later by catching his garage on fire with the Expedition he bought to replace the Explorer. They didn’t determine it was the cruise control for certain (c/o fire inspector) but Ford was quick to give him a “very generous undisclosed amount toward the Purchase of a new Ford providing he didn’t speculate to others as to what might have caused the fire” unsolicited, and his insurance company was at least partially reimbursed. Thank God he had a detached garage.
I’d figure Ford makes the worlds most disposable SUVs – if it doesn’t flip over or catch fire – you’re pretty lucky.
At least their cars are now of decent quality – thank Mazda and Volvo for the huge improvement.
$300 should about cover the “documentation fee” that the dealers sneak into the contract after you’ve negotiated a price.
Once again, it’s obvious that class action lawsuits are all about enriching the attorneys, while the “plaintiffs” get squat. Kudos to Ford for making lemonade.
I am a lawyer, and I am appalled. The judge who approved this thing should be impeached.
It would be funny that the lawyers get $25 million but they can only spend it on Fords. But they aren’t that dumb – only the class action customers to get a pathetic coupon to buy another Ford that well did not live up to its beckoning.
Let’s see.
The judge was a member of the bar. The plaintiffs lawyers were members of the bar. Even the defendants lawyers were members of the bar. The laws they argued over were written by the state and national legislators – also mostly members of the bar.
I didn’t check wiki, but I suspect this is the description used to explain the old saw about foxes in charge of the hen house.
This country will be greatly improved when we break the bars’ monopoly on legal matters.
It was a dumb lawsuit. The consumers got what they deserved – a good snub by their “concerned” lawyers. When will Americans learn that it isn’t about the consumer – it’s about the lawyers’ pocketbooks?
If the case was truly winnable, the class-action lawyers would have taken it to court and won real, hard money. Settling is only done when the plantiff can’t win but the defendant doesn’t want a drawn out, expensive and potentially negative trial.
Ford gets points for chutzpah, I suppose.
One of GM’s largest expenses is litigation.
Imagine a world without lawyers…