In re Takata Airbag Prods. Liab. Litig. Loss Track Cases

379 F. Supp. 3d 1333
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMay 3, 2019
DocketMDL No. 2599; Master File No. 15-02599-MD-MORENO; Economic Loss No. 14-24009-CV-MORENO
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 379 F. Supp. 3d 1333 (In re Takata Airbag Prods. Liab. Litig. Loss Track Cases) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Takata Airbag Prods. Liab. Litig. Loss Track Cases, 379 F. Supp. 3d 1333 (S.D. Fla. 2019).

Opinion

FEDERICO A. MORENO, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This multidistrict litigation ("MDL") consolidates allegations of economic loss and personal injury related to airbags manufactured by defendants Takata Corporation and TK Holdings (collectively, "Takata") and equipped in vehicles manufactured by Defendants FCA US LLC ("FCA"), General Motors Company, General Motors Holdings LLC, General Motors LLC (collectively, "General Motors"), Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (collectively, "Mercedes-Benz"), Audi Aktiengesellschaft, Audi of America, LLC (collectively, "Audi"), Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (collectively, with Audi, "Volkswagen") (all automotive manufacturers collectively, "Defendants"). While the Court divided the MDL's component cases into two tracks-economic loss for plaintiffs alleging purely economic damages and personal injury for plaintiffs alleging damages to a person-this Order pertains only to economic loss cases.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Defendant FCA's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2983) , Defendant General Motors's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2981) , and Defendants Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2988) (collectively, the "Motions" or "Motions to Dismiss"), all filed on August 20, 2018. Individually, the Motions seek to dismiss all claims alleged in three separate Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints: Boyd v. FCA US LLC ("Boyd ") (D.E. 2758) ; Whitaker v. General Motors Company, et al. ("Whitaker ") (D.E. 2759) ; and Puhalla v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, et al.1 ("Puhalla ") (D.E. 2762) (collectively, the "Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints").

THE COURT has thoroughly reviewed the Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints, the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss, the Plaintiffs' Omnibus Response in Opposition (D.E. 3034), and the Defendants' Reply memoranda (D.E. 3094, 3098, 3103). The Court also heard oral argument from the parties on certain issues raised in the moving papers. (See D.E. 3139). This Order pertains only to the direct-file and claim splitting issues raised by certain Defendants. The Court reserves ruling on all other issues and claims not discussed below (including all claims advanced by the Automotive Recycler Plaintiffs). For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are consumers of Defendants' vehicles that are equipped with Takata airbags containing the propellant ammonium nitrate. Plaintiffs allege ammonium nitrate is an innately volatile and unstable propellant that imposes an unreasonable risk of serious foreseeable harm or death *1336upon drivers of Defendants' vehicles. The crux of Plaintiffs' legal claims is that Defendants knew or should have known of these defects prior to installing the Takata airbags in their vehicles, and that Defendants concealed from, or failed to notify, the Plaintiffs and the general public of the full and complete nature of the defect, despite being aware of problems arising during the design and testing process, and through various rupture incidents and recalls. Defendants vigorously contest the sufficiency of Plaintiffs' allegations, and the constitutional bases for this Court to exercise personal jurisdiction over Defendants.

A. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 14, 2018, Plaintiffs commenced this litigation against Defendants by simultaneously filing four complaints in district courts where the Defendants are incorporated, or hold their principal places of business, and by filing three complaints directly in this MDL proceeding. The four complaints filed in transferor district courts (collectively, the "Transferor Complaints") include: Brugaletta, et. al., v. General Motors Company, et al. , Case No. 2:18-cv-10852-PDB-DRG (E.D. Mich. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Brugaletta "); Dwinnells, et. al., v. FCA US LLC , Case No. 2:18-cv-10848-BAF-APP (E.D. Mich. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Dwinnells "); Maestri, et. al., v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, et. al. , Case No. 1:18-cv-01070-WSD (N.D. Ga. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Maestri "); and McBride v. Audi of America, LLC, et al. , Case No. 1:18-cv-00284-LO-MSN (E.D. Va. Mar. 14, 2018) ("McBride ").2 The same day Plaintiffs filed the Transferor Complaints, they also filed in the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's ("JPML") docket a notice of potential tag-along actions concerning these four complaints. See In re Takata Airbag Litigation , MDL No. 2599, D.E. 962 (J.P.M.L. Mar. 14, 2018). This Court later accepted the JPML's transfer of Brugaletta , Dwinnells , and McBride into this MDL in April 2018 (see D.E. 2467, 2532-33, 2644), and accepted transfer of Maestri in June 2018 (D.E. 2881).

The same day the Transferor Complaints were filed, Plaintiffs directly filed three complaints in this MDL proceeding: Boyd (D.E. 2429); Whitaker (D.E. 2428); and Puhalla (D.E. 2430) (collectively, the "Consolidated Class Action Complaints"). In May 2018, Plaintiffs amended each of the Consolidated Class Action Complaints, pursuant to Court Order, to excluded claims asserted by the so-called "Recycler Plaintiffs." (See D.E. 2651.) It is these "Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints" (collectively, the "Direct File Complaints"), that Defendants' Motions seek to dismiss in their entirety.

B. SUBSTANCE OF UNDERLYING COMPLAINTS

The Direct File Complaints are not simply consolidations of the Transferor Complaints. The Direct File Complaints include several new plaintiffs who are not named in the Transferor Complaints and who have not separately filed lawsuits in any other federal district court: the Boyd Complaint includes one new plaintiff, Victor Khoury of Florida, who does not appear in *1337the Dwinnells Complaint; the Whitaker Complaint includes one new plaintiff, David Whitaker of Florida, who does not appear in the Brugaletta Complaint; and the Puhalla Complaint includes 23 new plaintiffs3 who never appear in the Alters , McBride , Krmpotic , or Maestri Complaints.4

Furthermore, while the Transferor Complaints assert common-law claims for negligence, fraud, and/or unjust enrichment, in addition to claims for violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the deceptive trade practices statutes of the states where each Transferor Complaint was filed, the Direct File Complaints add a litany of new claims-on behalf of the new plaintiffs and the plaintiffs originating in the Transferor Complaints-including nationwide RICO class action claims, statewide class action claims arising under numerous state deceptive trade practices statutes, claims for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability under the laws of several states, and in some cases, new common-law claims.

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Bluebook (online)
379 F. Supp. 3d 1333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-takata-airbag-prods-liab-litig-loss-track-cases-flsd-2019.