Ford Customers Avoid Arbitration Over Defective Truck Claims

Ford Motor Co. customers can avoid forced arbitration over claims that their truck was defective, after a California appeals court ruled that the manufacturer wasn’t intended to benefit from their sale contract with a dealership.

No language in the contract showed that the dealer and the customer meant to allow the manufacturer to enforce its arbitration provision, justices in California’s Court of Appeal, Second District wrote in a Monday published opinion, weighing in on an issue that has divided the state’s appellate courts. The use of the words “you or we” limited the scope of the contract to the ...