Ford shares slide, company to appeal court ruling

DETROIT (Reuters) - Shares of Ford Motor Co (F.N) fell as much as 4 percent on Monday after an Ohio court awarded $2 billion in damages to former Ford commercial dealers, but the company vowed to fight the decision.

"This is a long-term process. We're not writing any $2 billion checks this week," said David Leitch, the company's general counsel. "This will be playing out for some time."

Shares of the No. 2 U.S. automaker, were down 1.9 percent at $13.10 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier they fell as far as $12.78.

The Court of Common Pleas for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on Friday ruled on damages for former commercial truck dealers who contended that a Ford price-promotion program hurt their sales.

"With Ford's plans to appeal, the suit will likely drag for some time and adds to the macro concerns currently weighing on Ford and the auto sector," wrote Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson, in a note to clients.

(Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

(Corrects spelling of court's name in paragraph 4 to Pleas instead of Please; adds end quotation mark paragraph 2)