In re Volkswagen & Audi Warranty Extension Litigation

273 F.R.D. 349, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30856, 2011 WL 1085687
District Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided March 24, 2011·No. File No. 1:07-md-01790-JLT·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOSEPH L. TAURO, District Judge.

This matter came before the court on March 11, 2011 for a Final Fairness Hearing considering the approval of a proposed settlement of these consolidated class action cases, all pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(e) (the “Fairness Hearing”).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 24, 2010, 2010 WL 3810625, this court issued an Order [# 166]1 accepting the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendations of the Special Master Relating to the Conditional Approval of Class Settlement, Direct Notice to the Settlement Class and to Schedule a Final Fairness Hearing [# 164]. The proposed settlement among the Parties was thereby conditionally approved; certification of a class, for settlement purposes only, was conditionally approved; Peter J. McNulty of the McNulty Law Firm, Kirk D. Tresemer of Irwin & Boesen, P.C., and Russell D. Henkin of Berger & Montague, P.C., were appointed Class Counsel; and the proposed form, manner and mailing of notice was approved.

Thereafter, Notice of the conditional approval of the settlement and the date of the Fairness hearing was twice served by publication in the National Edition of USA Today, on December 27, 2010 and on January 25, 2011, as well as by first class mail to 1,603,-031 Settlement Class Members. The Fairness Hearing was held on March 11, 2011.

It is notable that at the Fairness Hearing no person appeared to speak in opposition to the settlement, and both Class Counsel and counsel for Defendants urged its approval.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The terms and conditions of the Agreement of Settlement (“Agreement”), dated September 2, 2010, including all Exhibits thereto, are hereby approved. Unless otherwise provided herein, the terms defined in the Agreement shall have the same meanings herein.

This court finds that the class settlement specified in the Agreement (the “Class Settlement”) at the time of the conditional approval was sufficiently within the range of reasonableness that the Notice of the Class Settlement given as described below and in Section VLB of the Agreement was appropriate.

In making these determinations approving the settlement, this court considered the current posture of this litigation and the risks and benefits to the Parties, in both settlement of these claims and continuation of the litigation. Moreover, this court has determined that the Agreement was entered into only after extensive arm’s-length negotiation by experienced counsel. The Class Settlement is not the result of collusion, but rather is reasonable in light of the claims alleged by Plaintiffs and the litigation risks of Plaintiffs and Defendants.

The Settlement Class

This Settlement Class consists of all current and former owners and lessees of model [352]*352years 1997-2004 Audi A4 vehicles or model years 1998-2004 Volkswagen Passat vehicles equipped with a 1.8 liter turbo engine imported or distributed for sale or lease in the United States by Volkswagen Group of America (“VWGoA”) (collectively the “Settlement Class Vehicles”). The Settlement Class Vehicles include a total of 479,768 vehicles imported or distributed for sale or lease in the United States by VWGoA. The Settlement Class Vehicles do not include, however, vehicles for which motor oil meeting VW specification 502 00 was required as part of scheduled maintenance (model year 2004 Audi A4 vehicles with VIN numbers of or above WAULC 68E44A152304 and model year 2004 Audi A4 Cabriolet vehicles with VIN numbers of or above WAUAC48H04K014467). Also excluded from the Settlement Class are (a) all federal court judges who have presided over this case and their spouses, (b) all persons and entities who have elected to exclude themselves from the Settlement Class, and (c) Defendants’ current employees, officers, directors, agents and representatives.

The Requirements of Rule 23(a) Have Been Met for Purposes of This Approval

1. Numerosity: Numerosity requires that the class include so many members that joinder would be impracticable.2 Courts have generally found groups of more than fifty to satisfy the numerosity requirement.3 District courts “may draw reasonable inferences from the facts presented to find the requisite numerosity.” 4

In this case, the Settlement Class consists of current and former owners or lessees of 479,768 vehicles. A class of that size readily satisfies the numerosity requirement.5

2. Commonality: Generally, the commonality requirement is met if at least one common question of law or fact exists.6 Here, questions of fact are whether the 1.8 liter turbo engines in the 479,768 Settlement Class vehicles are prone to the formation of oil sludge or coking deposits when maintained according to the recommended maintenance intervals and oil quality specifications.7 These issues are common to all members of the Settlement Class.

“‘The commonality requirement will be satisfied if the named plaintiffs share at least one question of fact or law with the grievances of the prospective class.’ ”8 Class members need not share identical claims.9

3. Typicality: To satisfy the typicality requirement of Rule 23(a)(3), the claims or defenses of the representative parties must be typical of the claims or defenses of the class.10 Typicality seeks to insure that there are no conflicts between the class representatives’ claims and the claims of the class members and that the “named plaintiffs have incentives that align with those of the absent class members.”11

The claims of the Settlement Class Representatives arising from the sludge and coking problems of their vehicles are typical of the problems that Plaintiffs allege were, and may yet be, experienced by owners and lessees of other Settlement Class Vehicles. Each Plaintiff claims that his or her vehicle was damaged, or may suffer damages in the [353]*353future, as a result of the alleged sludge and coking problems.

In the present action, Plaintiffs’ claims arise out of the same alleged course of conduct and are based on the same legal theories as those of the absent Settlement Class Members. The Second Amended Complaint [# 57] alleges that Plaintiffs and Settlement Class Members sustained the same or similar types of damages. Accordingly, Plaintiffs’ interests are “typical” of the Settlement Class and satisfy Rule 28(a)(3).

4. Adequacy: The adequacy requirement “has two parts”: the advocates for settlement “must show first that the interests of the representative party will not conflict with the interests of any of the class members and, second, that counsel chosen by the representative party is qualified, experienced, and able to vigorously conduct the proposed litigation.”12 Plaintiffs here meet both prongs.

Plaintiffs have demonstrated through their efforts on behalf of the Settlement Class that they share the Settlement Class’s interest in obtaining redress with respect to the claims asserted in this action.

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In re Volkswagen & Audi Warranty Extension Litigation, 273 F.R.D. 349, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30856, 2011 WL 1085687 (D. Mass. 2011).

273 F.R.D. 349 (In re Volkswagen & Audi Warranty Extension Litigation) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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