Ford Motor Co. v. Sheldon

965 S.W.2d 65, 1998 WL 105049
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 1998
Docket03-97-00074-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 965 S.W.2d 65 (Ford Motor Co. v. Sheldon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford Motor Co. v. Sheldon, 965 S.W.2d 65, 1998 WL 105049 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

ABOUSSIE, Justice.

Ford Motor Company, Inc., Leif Johnson Ford, Inc., and Fred Capedeville (collectively, “Ford”) complain in this interlocutory appeal that the trial court incorrectly certified appellees’ suit as a class action. We will modify the order, and affirm it as modified.

The Trial Court Action

Apellees purchased various Ford models on which the paint peeled:

Appellee Car 1 Sale date First noticed peeling after sale

Barry Sheldon 1987 Ranger January 1987 18-22 months

B.J. Sanders 1989 Ranger September 1989 9 months

John Porter 1988 F-150 March 1988 18 months

Matthew Reuter 1989 F-150 December 1988 4 years

William Dobbs 1990 F-150 February 1990 4 years

Margaret Dunayer 1991 F-150 December 1990 17-18 months

James Beasley 1990 Bronco January 1990 4 years

Appellees claim the cars peeled because the paint process was defective, that Ford knew of the defect, and that Ford nevertheless persisted in using the process and selling the affected cars to Texas consumers. Appellees seek to recover for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and violations of the deceptive trade practices act. The alleged DTPA violations include representing that goods have characteristics they do not; representing that goods are of a particular standard, quality, or grade when they are not; and failing to disclose information about goods known at the time of the transactions and intending by that nondisclosure to induce transactions that would not have occurred but for the nondisclosure. Appellees contend Ford’s conduct was an unconscionable action or course of action.

The trial court certified the ease as a class action on behalf of the following class of plaintiffs:

All persons who purchased a new 1987-1993 Ford F-Series Truck, 1987-1993 Ford Bronco, 1987-1989 Ford Bronco II, 1987-1992 Ford Ranger or 1987-1989 Ford Mustang in Texas on or after March 8, 1988 which was painted with high build eleetrocoat or medium build eleetrocoat and no spray primer and who suffered past and/or future damage as a result of peeling or flaking paint on these vehicles caused by a defective paint process (i.e., high build eleetrocoat or medium built eleetrocoat and no spray primer) excluding persons who purchased vehicles pursuant to a fleet account or fleet identification number; and
All persons who purchased a new 1984r-1988 Ford F-Series Truck, 1984-1988 Ford Bronco, 1984-1988 Ford Bronco II, 1984-1988 Ford Ranger or 1984-1988 Ford Mustang in Texas prior to March 8, 1988 which was painted with high build electro-coat or medium build eleetrocoat and no spray primer and who paid Ford or a Ford dealership for a paint repair to their vehicle to repair peeling or flaking paint caused by a defective paint process (i.e., high build eleetrocoat or medium build eleetrocoat and no spray primer), excluding persons who purchased vehicles pursuant to a fleet account or fleet identification number.

Though finding issues common to the class, the court acknowledged that the multiplicity of potential causes of peeling meant that the case likely would have a phase of individual *68 trials following the class-wide resolution of the common issues.

The Interlocutory Appeal

Ford contends that the trial court erred by certifying the class action because the proposed trial structure violates Texas’s general strictures against bifurcated trials and because the suit lacks the prerequisites for class certification. We review the trial court’s decision whether to certify a class for an abuse of discretion. RSR Corp. v. Hayes, 673 S.W.2d 928, 930 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1984, writ dism’d). A trial court does not abuse its discretion by basing its decisions on conflicting evidence, but does abuse its discretion by failing to properly apply the law to undisputed facts. Forsyth v. Lake LBJ Inv. Corp., 903 S.W.2d 146, 149 (Tex.App.—Austin 1995, writ dism’d w.o.j.); RSR, 673 S.W.2d at 930.

1. Bifurcated trial

By points of error four and five, Ford complains that the trial court set up an im-permissibly bifurcated, piecemeal trial process. 2 Ford contends that Texas courts’ traditional aversion to piecemeal trials overcomes or modifies the class-action rule that, when appropriate, “an action may be brought or maintained as a class action with respect to particular issues.” Tex.R. Civ. P. 42(d)(1). Texas courts’ aversion to bifurcated trials predates the class-action procedural rule. Ford cites cases dating back sixty years illustrating the principle. See Phoenix Assurance Co. of London v. Stobaugh, 127 Tex. 308, 94 S.W.2d 428, 430 (1936) (insurance coverage case: whether building was total loss not severable issue from whether plaintiff covered by policy); see also Transportation Ins. Co. v. Morid, 879 S.W.2d 10, 30 (Tex.1994) (exception to non-bifurcation rule: amount of punitive damages tried separately from rest of action); Otis Elevator Co. v. Bedre, 776 S.W.2d 152, 153 (Tex.1989) (appellate court cannot remand negligence separately from contributory negligence and damages); Waples-Platter Co. v. Commercial Standard Ins. Co., 156 Tex. 234, 294 S.W.2d 375, 377 (Tex.1956) (appellate court cannot remand damages only; court cannot require piecemeal trial because liability and damages are elements of indivisible cause of action). These cases were not class actions under the rules of civil procedure, however.

The language of Rule 42(d) indicates that it creates an exception to the general prohibition of bifurcation. Allowing trial of separate “issues” rather than “claims” — a conscious choice, because Rule 42 refers to “claims” elsewhere — indicates that the rulemakers envisioned that something less than an entire cause of action might be tried as a class action. Unlike former Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 81(b)(1), Rule 42 does not require that the particular class issues be “clearly separable without unfairness to the parties.” See Otis Elevator, 776 S.W.2d at 153 (interpreting former Tex.R.App. P. 81(b)(1)). 3 For cases meeting its other requirements, Rule 42 requires only that the class trial of particular issues be “appropriate.” Tex.R. Civ. P. 42(d).

Ford also argues that the term “issues” in Rule 42 should be interpreted like “issue” in Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 174(b).

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