Last week, a Ohio State court judge settled a lawsuit between Ford Motor Company and numerous dealers with the ruling ending in the favor against the blue oval. In 2002, when the case began, dealers of medium and heavy-duty Ford trucks purchased them under the program “Competitive Price Assistance” and claimed that Ford overcharged for nearly 10 years. The Ohio judge ruled that Ford would have to pay a total of $2 billion back to these dealers. Recently, a statement read by David Leitch, Ford’s Vice President, was made appealing the verdict.
Read the full press release and Ford’s appeal below.
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The following statement is attributable to David Leitch, Ford Motor Company group vice president and general counsel:
“We believe the decision made Friday by a state court judge in Ohio is highly flawed, and we are appealing.
“The evidence we presented at trial showed clearly that the former Competitive Price Assistance program – which was a common practice formerly used by companies selling in the extremely competitive medium- and heavy-truck market – resulted in thousands of additional sales benefitting our customers and dealers, and it did not violate our agreement with dealers.
“We believe among the most egregious errors was the decision to apply alleged damages from this one case to each and every dealer in the class without allowing any evidence of how other dealers might have been affected.
“The decision is far outside the bounds of normal legal process, and we are confident that the Ohio appellate courts will reach the same conclusion upon review of the matter, which will take several years based on normal timing.”
