Abraham v. Volkswagen of America, Inc.

103 F.R.D. 358, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23760
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 10, 1984
DocketNo. CIV-83-196T
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 103 F.R.D. 358 (Abraham v. Volkswagen of America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abraham v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 103 F.R.D. 358, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23760 (W.D.N.Y. 1984).

Opinion

[360]*360INTRODUCTION

TELESCA, District Judge.

In this action, plaintiffs allege two claims under the Magnuson-Moss Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 2301 et. seq. and several pendent state law claims involving alleged defects in Volkswagen Rabbits manufactured by-defendant between 1975 and 1979. The alleged defects center upon problems with the vehicles’ lubrication systems which allegedly caused excessive oil consumption and a variety of other difficulties.- Because of the specific jurisdictional requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Act, defendant was permitted to conduct limited discovery for the purpose of challenging plaintiffs’ factual allegations in the complaint concerning subject matter jurisdiction. Subsequent to this limited discovery, defendant now makes several motions: (1) to dismiss the class action claims for failure to meet the jurisdictional requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Act; (2) to sever the individual claims for misjoinder under F.R.Civ.P. 20, and thereafter to dismiss the complaint for failure to meet the jurisdictional requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Act and, (3) in the alternative, to stay or dismiss the action pending a disposition of a prior New York State action commenced by four of the named plaintiffs purportedly on behalf of a class of all persons similarly situated.

DISCUSSION

I.

The first issue which must be addressed is the scope of inquiry permitted on these motions. Plaintiffs argue vigorously that they have adequately pleaded colorable claims under the Magnuson-Moss Act. They argue, that since subject matter jurisdiction has been validly pleaded, no further inquiry into the .merits of their claims is permissible at this stage of the proceedings.

In support of this position, plaintiffs rely upon Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946) which held, they claim, that it is improper for a federal district court to look into the merits of the claims alleged in the complaint on a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 682, 66 S.Ct. at 776. Before addressing the applicability of the holding in Bell v. Hood in the instant case, a review of the Magnuson-Moss Act jurisdictional requirements is appropriate.

The Consumer Product Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 2301, et seq., commonly referred to as the Magnuson-Moss Act (in tribute to its sponsors), creates a right of action in favor of aggrieved purchasers of consumer products under federal law. However, the act provides that no claim is cognizable in federal court:

(A) If the amount in controversy of any individual claim is less than the sum or value of $25;
(B) If the amount in controversy is less than the sum or value of $50,000 (exclusive of interests and costs) computed on the basis of all claims to be determined in the suit; or
(C) If the action is brought as a class action, and the number of named plaintiffs is less than one hundred.

15 U.S.C. Section 2310(d)(3).

The legislative history of the act reveals that the purpose of these strict jurisdictional requirements for suits brought in federal court was two-fold: “(1) to avoid trivial or minor actions being brought as class actions in federal district court; and (2) to overcome the absence of an amount in controversy requirement in 28 U.S.C. Section 1337, since the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is an Act regulating commerce.” Novosel v. Northway Motor Car Corp., 460 F.Supp. 541, 543 (N.D.N.Y.1978).

Plaintiffs argue that under Bell v. Hood, supra, they have sufficiently pleaded a Magnuson-Moss Act claim to defeat the present motion since there are in'excess of 100 plaintiffs with individual claims in excess of $25.00 and with aggregate claims in excess of $50,000. Defendant counters that the interrogatories answered by plaintiffs clearly show that there are less than 100 plaintiffs who actually have any argua[361]*361ble claims under the Act, and therefore, this Court should dismiss plaintiffs class action claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because they have failed to meet the critical requirements of 15 U.S.C. Section 2310(d)(3)(C).

In Walsh v. Ford Motor Co., 588 F.Supp. 1513, unpublished decision, (D.D.C.1984), Judge Green faced the identical issue of whether Bell v. Hood limited her inquiry into the lack of subject matter jurisdiction issues raised by the defendant on a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs Magnuson-Moss Act claims. Judge Green held that Bell v. Hood was distinguishable from the case before her because Bell v. Hood dealt with general federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Section 1331. Where a plaintiff reliés on a jurisdictional statute which provides specific threshhold requirements, Judge Green held that there is no such limitation on a court’s inquiry into the merits. Walsh, supra, at p. 1519; See Mt. Health City School District Board of Ed. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 278-79, 97 S.Ct. 568, 571-72, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). In analogizing between the Magnuson-Moss Act and other statutes requiring a specific jurisdictional threshhold such as the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. Section 1350, and the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. Section 1361, Judge Green held that it was entirely proper to determine whether 100 of the Walsh plaintiffs had arguable claims under Magnuson-Moss in an early stage of the litigation.

This court adopts Judge Green’s thoughtful and thorough analysis as well as her conclusion. If the contrary were true, plaintiff could simply open up the local telephone directory and find 99 other individuals willing to place their names on a complaint and thereby defeat a motion to dismiss and permit the lone individual to proceed with discovery. Such a result would be contrary to the intentions of the act to limit litigation in the federal courts to only those cases of major magnitude.

II.

Having decided that it is proper to explore the factual basis for plaintiffs’ claims of jurisdiction, I turn now to an analysis of the issues raised by defendant.

Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges two Magnuson-Moss Act claims, the first under a written warranty theory and the second under an implied warranty theory. Both of these claims are raised in class action form. Defendant has challenged this court’s subject matter jurisdiction to hear either of these claims.

Defendant claims, inter alia,

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Bluebook (online)
103 F.R.D. 358, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abraham-v-volkswagen-of-america-inc-nywd-1984.