Judge: Michael Small, Case: 22STCV13577, Date: 2025-03-10 Tentative Ruling

Inform the clerk if you submit on the tentative ruling. If moving and opposing parties submit, no appearance is necessary.

Case Number: 22STCV13577    Hearing Date: March 10, 2025    Dept: 57

Ford Motor Company's motion for summary judgment, or alternatively summary adjudication, is denied. Ford's motion is procedurally improper.   Ford moved under Civil Code Section 1793.2(d) for summary judgment on the Plaintiffs' claim for breach of the express warranty that came with the vehicle that Ford manufactured and that Plaintiffs purchased.  But that was just one of Plaintiffs' claims.  Plaintiffs also asserted a claim under Section 1792 for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability that came with the vehicle. Ford did not move for summary judgment on that claim.  Summary judgment disposes of an entire action.  As framed, Ford's motion for summary judgment cannot do that because the claim for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability is not a subject of the motion. Ford did move in the alternative for summary adjudication.  Such motions dispose of causes of action.  But Ford did not move for summary adjudication on the claim for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability.  It moved for summary adjudication on the Plaintiffs' request in their prayer for relief for an award of a civil penalty against Ford.  Civil penalties, other than punitive damages, are not a proper subject of a motion for summary adjudication.

Ford's motion for bifurcation of the trial is denied.  Ford seeks in this motion to split the trial into phases.  In the first phase, the Court would conduct a bench trial on what Ford says is a purely legal issue of the sufficiency of Ford's offer to repurchase the Plaintiffs' vehicle.  Under Ford's proposal, a second phase of the trial, in front of a jury, would be necessary only if the Court resolves the legal issue in phase one against Ford.  The problem is that there are disputed factual issues regarding Ford's calculation of the mileage deduction bound up in the determination of the adequacy of Ford's repurchase.  Those issues are for a jury to decide.