Ford has lost its bid to delay an upcoming virtual trial in a class action over allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, with a judge saying the parties must try to make a virtual trial work because the current “unsatisfactory” circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic could continue for a year or more.
Arguing that the court should not be “baulking at problems that have the potential to occur”, counsel for a class action against Ford is pushing back against a bid by the car maker to put the brakes on an upcoming virtual trial the company says will be too difficult and costly.
The judge overseeing a class action against car maker Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmission has shot down the applicant’s request for additional discovery, saying that after multiple delays in the case “the well has run dry”.
The judge overseeing the long-running class action over allegedly faulty Ford PowerShift transmissions has told the applicants they might need to put up considerable cash security to cover the “war and peace of discovery” disputes, after Ford slammed the delayed request for documents as “complete and utter nonsense”.
The Federal Court has granted auto giant Ford’s request for the costs of an anti-suit injunction it sought in the PowerShift transmission class action that was ultimately unnecessary after the class was denied its bid to access discovery from similar proceedings in the United States.