Rosner, Barry & Babbitt’s Auto Fraud Legal Center is please to announce that on September 6, 2011, three justices on the Third District of the California Court of Appeal issued a published opinion confirming that trucks weighing 10,000 pounds are covered by the California lemon law, even if they are used by a business with less than five vehicles registered in its name. The case is Joyce v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. C064453.

Unlike most other states, California’s lemon law covers vehicles that are used for business purposes, so long as the vehicle has a “gross vehicle weight” of less than 10,000 pounds, and that business has less than five vehicles registered in its name.  The law specifically includes the phrase “gross vehicle weight.” For a number years, Ford Motor Company has taken the seemingly ridiculous position that “gross vehicle weight” as used in Californai Lemon Law means the same thing as ”gross vehicle weight rating.” ”Gross vehicle weight” is the weight of the vehicle as actually used while “gross vehicle weight rating” is the maximum weight that could be put on the vehicle.  Ford Motor Company uses “gross vehicle weight rating,” because the weight rating for a number of its ”F-series” trucks is over 10,000 pounds.  It has denied lemon law requests and claims by vehicle owners based on this position.  However, Ford Motor Company cannot do this anymore.  The Court of Appeal made clear that “gross vehicle weight” means the curb weight of the vehicle plus the expected weight of passengers and gas in the vehicle.

The reason for Ford Motor Company taking this position with its “F-series” trucks may have to do with the fact that the diesel engines in these trucks suffer from a serious problems.  These problems have caused Ford Motor Company to buyback a number of these trucks as lemons, so many in fact, that Ford Motor Company has filed a lawsuit against the company that manufacturers these engines for it.  If you have a Ford truck with engine issues, you should contact a lemon law attorney.

As part of the Court of Appeal’s ruling, it ordered that verdict be entered in Mr. Joyce’s favor, and that a further trial be held on whether Mr. Joyce is entitled to a civil penalty for Ford Motor Company’s failure to buyback his truck at his request.

The appeal was handled by Hallen Rosner at Rosner, Barry & Babbitt’s Auto Fraud Legal Center, who can be reached at 858-348-1005 or hal@rbblawgroup.com.

The Court’s Opinion can be found at:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C064453.PDF