In re Gen. Motors LLC

339 F. Supp. 3d 262
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 12, 2018
Docket14-MD-2543 (JMF); 14-MC-2543 (JMF)
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 339 F. Supp. 3d 262 (In re Gen. Motors LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Gen. Motors LLC, 339 F. Supp. 3d 262 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

[Regarding Application of the Court's Prior Rulings on Manifestation, Incidental Damages (Lost Time), and Unjust Enrichment to All Remaining Jurisdictions in Dispute (MDL Order No. 131 Issues) ]

JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge

INTRODUCTION... 274

LEGAL STANDARDS... 275

DISCUSSION... 275

A. Manifestation... 276

1. State Consumer Protection Laws... 277
a. Broad Remedial Statutes... 277
i. Alaska... 277
ii. Colorado... 278
iii. Kansas... 279
iv. Mississippi... 280
v. Montana... 281
vi. Nevada... 281
vii. New Jersey... 282
viii. New Mexico... 284
b. "Actual Damages"... 284
i. Arizona... 285
ii. Connecticut... 285
iii. Iowa... 286
iv. Kentucky... 287
v. Maine... 288
vi. Nebraska... 288
vii. Ohio... 288
viii. Oregon... 289
ix. Rhode Island... 290
x. South Dakota... 290
xi. Tennessee... 292
xii. Washington... 292
xiii. West Virginia... 292
2. Fraudulent Concealment... 293
i. Minnesota... 298
ii. Mississippi... 299
iii. New Jersey... 300
iv. Oregon... 301
v. West Virginia... 301
3. Implied Warranty... 301
i. Colorado... 304
ii. Delaware... 305
iii. Ohio... 305
iv. West Virginia... 306

B. Lost Time... 307

1. Lost Time as Lost Earnings... 309
2. Lost-Time Damages for Household Work... 321
3. States Allowing Recovery for Lost Time Beyond Lost Earnings... 327
i. Colorado... 327
ii. New York... 328
iii. Ohio... 330
iv. Oklahoma... 330
v. Utah... 331
vi. Virginia... 332

C. Unjust Enrichment... 332

i. Arizona... 333
ii. Connecticut... 334
iii. Mississippi... 335
iv. New Hampshire... 335
v. New Jersey... 337
vi. New Mexico... 338
vii. Oregon... 339
viii. Rhode Island... 340 *274ix. South Carolina... 340
x. West Virginia... 341

CONCLUSION... 342

INTRODUCTION

This multidistrict litigation ("MDL"), familiarity with which is assumed, arose from the recall in February 2014 by General Motors LLC ("New GM") of General Motors ("GM") vehicles that had been manufactured with a defective ignition switch - a switch that could too easily move from the "run" position to the "accessory" and "off" positions, causing moving stalls and disabling critical safety systems (such as the airbag). Following that recall, New GM recalled millions of other vehicles, some for ignition switch-related defects and some for other defects. In this litigation, Plaintiffs seek recovery on behalf of a broad putative class of GM car owners and lessors whose vehicles were subject to those recalls, arguing that they have been harmed by, among other things, a drop in their vehicles' value due to the ignition switch defect and other defects. Their operative complaint - the Fifth Amended Consolidated Complaint or "5ACC" (Docket No. 4838) - exceeds 1700 pages and 7400 paragraphs, and includes claims relating to the ignition-switch defect and various other alleged defects under state law brought by named Plaintiffs in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

In conjunction with the parties, the Court decided early on not to entertain a motion to dismiss all of the Plaintiffs' economic loss claims at once - given, among other things, the number and scope of those claims; the possibility that the litigation would be materially affected by parallel proceedings in (and arising out of) bankruptcy court; and the likelihood that the parties could ultimately agree upon how the Court's rulings as to some state law claims would apply to others, saving the need for the parties to brief and the Court to decide the same issues in fifty-one different jurisdictions. In an Opinion and Order filed on July 15, 2016, with respect to the then-operative Third Amended Consolidated Complaint ("TACC"), the Court ruled on the validity of Plaintiffs' claims in eight jurisdictions. See In re Gen. Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litig. , No. 14-MD-2543 (JMF), 2016 WL 3920353 at *36 (S.D.N.Y. July 15, 2016) (" TACC Op. "). A little less than one year later, the Court issued another Opinion and Order (later modified), with respect to the then-operative Fourth Amended Consolidated Complaint ("FACC"), addressing the validity of Plaintiffs' claims in another eight jurisdictions. See In re Gen. Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litig. , 257 F.Supp.3d 372, 423 (S.D.N.Y. 2017) (" FACC Op. "), modified on reconsideration , No. 14-MC-2543 (JMF), 2017 WL 3443623 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2017) (" FACC Supp. Op. "). Plaintiffs later filed the Fifth Amended Consolidated Complaint.

In MDL Order No. 131, entered on August 30, 2017, the Court directed the parties to "meet and confer regarding the application of the Court's prior motion to dismiss opinions on the issues of (i) unjust enrichment, (ii) incidental damages, and (iii) manifest defect" to the jurisdictions that had not been the subject of prior rulings by the Court - a total of thirty-five jurisdictions for the issues of unjust enrichment and manifest defect and forty-seven jurisdictions for the issue of incidental damages. (Docket No. 4499, ¶ 4). That process yielded agreement, and a stipulation (Docket No. 5099 ("Parties' Stipulation") ), with respect to application of the Court's prior opinions to some issues in some of the remaining jurisdictions - albeit many fewer issues in many fewer jurisdictions than the Court had hoped.

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Bluebook (online)
339 F. Supp. 3d 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-gen-motors-llc-ilsd-2018.