Ford takes fresh aim at lawyers in lawsuit claiming overbilling scheme

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Ford Motor F.N has filed an amended lawsuit accusing three lawyers of running a fraudulent billing scheme to extract more than $100 million in unearned legal fees from the company and other auto manufacturers under California’s Lemon Law.

Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams Court dismissed Ford’s lawsuit in November but said the automaker could file a revamped complaint.

Ford’s updated case , filed on Monday, focuses on three individual California lawyers affiliated with Knight Law Group and no longer names any law firms as a defendant.

Ford said the lawyers oversaw a “Fee Motion Department” at their law firm that created fraudulent time entries for work that was never performed and sometimes recorded physically impossible hours, including multiple 24‑hour days and one 57.5‑hour “workday.”

Ford called the fee department “an assembly line of fraud.”

California’s Lemon Law, called the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, protects consumers who buy or lease new vehicles that turn out to have serious defects. The law entitles attorneys to recover legal fees for time that was reasonably spent representing vehicle owners.

A lawyer for the defendants, Milbank partner Neal Katyal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Knight Law, which is not a defendant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Douglass Lampe, a company lawyer at Ford, said on Tuesday that the amended complaint includes new details about the lawyers' conduct based on testimony they gave earlier in the case.

"It remains obvious that as alleged in the original complaint the defendant lemon law lawyers exploited and deceived the courts and the judicial system in California with their fake bills enterprise,” Lampe said.

The named defendants — former Knight Law managing partner Steve Mikhov; and Knight attorneys Roger Kirnos and Amy Morse — have denied Ford's allegations. They either did not immediately respond to requests for comment or could not be reached.

In a September court filing, the Knight Law lawyers called the lawsuit an effort by Ford "to chill and punish its litigation adversaries — law firms, lawyers, and staff who represent consumers harmed by Ford's defective vehicles and fraudulent conduct."

The case is Ford Motor Company v. Mikhov et al., U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 2:25-cv-04550-MWC-PVC.

For plaintiff: Daniel Saunders, Matthew Manacek, Edward McNally and Daniel Fetterman of Kasowitz

For defendants: Neal Katyal of Milbank; Dane Butswinkas of Williams & Connolly; and Aaron Dyer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

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