Compensatory Award Was $72,564.04, Song-Beverly Act Civil Penalties Were $141,973.30, and Punitive Damages Award Was $725,640.40 (After Plaintiff Accepted A Remitted Amount From A $1,451,973.30 Jury Punitive Award).
Margeson v. Ford Motor Co., Case No. B287445 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Sept. 22, 2020) (unpublished) involved a substantial jury verdict and large attorney’s fees award under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (Song-Beverly Act) based on a defective new Ford F-350 truck equipped with a 6.0-liter, 350 horsepower diesel engine. The jury awarded plaintiff $72,564.04 in compensatory damages (a stipulated amount), $141,973.30 in civil penalties under the Song-Beverly Act, and $1,451,973.30 in punitive damages (20 times the compensatory damages, reduced to $725,640.40 by the trial judge—a reduction accepted by plaintiff in order to avoid a new trial on the punitive damages issue). Subsequently, the lower court awarded plaintiff $953,793.90 under the CLRA and Song-Beverly Act fee-shifting provisions (with the lodestar amount augmented by a 1.8 multiplier in reaching this amount).
The 2/5 DCA reversed the punitive damages award for a retrial because plaintiff’s expert impermissibly invaded the jury’s province in testifying on how punitive damages should be calculated. Since resolution of the punitive damages question might figure in the determination of attorney’s fees, the partial reversal of the judgment compelled reversal of the fee award as well. (California Grocers Assn., Inc. v. Bank of America, 22 Cal.App.4th 205, 220 (1994).) Goes to show you how substantial fee awards can occur under consumer fee-shifting statutes, even though we should guess the punitive damage and fee issues will be settled before there is a new trial or renewed fee proceeding.
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