Majority of Chrysler Defective Power System Class Action Survives

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A federal judge has trimmed a Chrysler defective power system class action lawsuit while maintaining all but one of the alleged violations of state consumer protection system.

The vehicles named in the Chrysler class action lawsuit include more than a dozen Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler models sold since 2010 and revolves around the Total Integrated Power Module. The device acts as a central power control system that distributes electricity to safety systems, the fuel and ignition components and others. Symptoms noted by the judge include having “vehicles fail to start promptly and reliably, and some to fail to start entirely; stall, including at high speeds; have fuel pumps that do not turn off; experience headlights and taillights shutting off; and experience random and uncontrollable activity of the horn, windshield wipers, and alarm system.”

Chrysler Group’s defense team had argued that the state consumer protection laws, in the judge’s words, “although Plaintiffs purchased vehicles manufactured and warranted by Chrysler at authorized Chrysler dealerships–Plaintiffs have not shown that Chrysler has a sufficiently special relationship with them such that it had a duty to disclose a defect it allegedly knew about at the time of each sale.”

Terming the position “startling,” the order denying the motion to dismiss all claims in the class action lawsuit except that of a New Jersey plaintiff, the judge wrote that to deny the Class relief on those statutes would be going far beyond his authority. However, in the case of the latter man, the order noted that there was no safety issue with his vehicle and thus he could not pursue a legal remedy under that state’s law.

The order also tossed the Manuson-Moss Warranty Act claims in the Chrysler class action lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson noted that none of the plaintiffs alleged that the issues were reported during the express warranty period and their consideration of the Total Integrated Power Module as linked to emissions, which Chrysler warrants against defects for seven years, was too tenuous.

Fraud by deception claims regarding the Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler models made by the plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit lawyers still held up, however. In federal court, the pleading must satisfy the “who, what, when, where and how,” in order to sound in fraud. Since omission requires a defendant to mask facts, Judge Pregerson found that the class action lawsuit had included sufficient facts.

The lead plaintiffs are represented by class action lawsuit lawyers Eric. H. Gibbs, David Stein and Scott M. Grzenczyk of Girard Gibbs LLP; and Todd M. Schneider and Joshua G. Konecky of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP.

The Chrysler Defective Power System Class Action Lawsuit is Velasco, et al. v. Chrysler Group LLC, Case No. 13-cv-08080 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.