Donlen

Plaintiff Greg Donlen appeals from the trial court’s grant of a new trial following a jury verdict awarding him damages in his lemon law action against defendant Ford Motor Company (Ford). He claims the court committed no error at trial and thus had no jurisdiction to grant a new trial on that basis. Ford also appeals, asserting that if we reverse the new trial order, we should reverse the judgment on the basis of lack of substantial evidence and evidentiary error. We conclude the trial court erred in granting a new trial, and we reverse its order. We also affirm the judgment and reject Ford’s appeal.

FACTS

Plaintiff purchased a new Ford F-450 Super Duty truck in July 2004. The truck was covered by an express limited warranty for a period of three years or 36,000 miles, whichever came first.

1. Repair history

Plaintiff took the truck to a dealer four times during the warranty period to have it repaired or checked for problems. The first warranty repair, in August of 2005 at 11,618 miles, occurred pursuant to a recall notice plaintiff received from Ford. The recall concerned the truck’s transmission. The notice stated “[t]he TorqShift transmission in your vehicle may…