McVetty v. TomTom North America, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 15, 2022
Docket7:19-cv-04908
StatusUnknown

This text of McVetty v. TomTom North America, Inc. (McVetty v. TomTom North America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McVetty v. TomTom North America, Inc., (S.D.N.Y. 2022).

Opinion

USDC SDNY DOCUMENT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ELECTRONICALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOC #: DATE FILED: _ 07/15/2022 FRANCIS MCVETTY, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, No. 19 Civ. 4908 (NSR) -against- OPINION & ORDER TOMTOM NORTH AMERICA, INC., Defendant. NELSON S. ROMAN, United States District Judge: This putative class action alleges that Defendant TomTom North America, Inc. misled consumers to believe it was promising them that one of its navigation devices (the “Product’) would have “Lifetime Maps” to avoid having to replace their device every few years. (Am. Compl. at 1-12, ECF No. 24.) Plaintiff Francis McVetty, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, brings this action against Defendant asserting claims for violations of New York’s General Business Law §§ 349 and 350, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, unjust enrichment, and trespass to chattel. (/d. at 14-16.) Presently pending before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (ECF No. 31.) For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion to dismiss. BACKGROUND I. Factual Background The following facts are derived from the Amended Complaint and are taken as true and constructed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff for the purposes of this motion. Defendant, a California corporation with a principal place of business in New Hampshire, manufactures, distributes, markets, labels, and sells portable navigation devices to consumers

through third-party retailers, including brick-and-mortar stores and online, and directly from its website (the “Products”). (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 59). “All of the Products are marketed and advertised as coming with Lifetime Maps or Lifetime Maps and Traffic, point-of-sale marketing, retailers’ catalogues, websites and television sales, uniformly and pervasively promotes the Lifetime Maps

and/or Traffic Updates.” (Id. ¶ 5.) “The product boxes have continuously highlighted the addition of Lifetime Traffic and/or Maps . . . .” (Id. ¶ 6.) Because of rapidly changing technology, consumers are willing to pay a premium for a device that comes with updates so that they are not continually needing to buy new devices. (Id. ¶¶ 7–8.) Accordingly, Defendant “capitalizes on this consumer sentiment by essentially saying, ‘Buy our higher-priced devices now and you won’t have to get another one for a long time because we will maintain the level of functionality and added services.’” (Id. ¶ 9.) The warranty terms for Lifetime Maps on Defendant’s website provide the following: “When you purchase a navigation device or smartphone app which includes Lifetime Maps, you can download 4 or more full updates of your map every year for the lifetime of your product.

Lifetime Maps are available without additional charge and for as long as the product is supported.” (Id. ¶ 11.) Plaintiff alleges that these terms were not available to customers prior to the time of sale. (Id. ¶ 47.) Plaintiff further alleges that in the warranty terms, Defendant “self-serving[ly]” defined “lifetime” as “the useful life of the device” or “the period of time that [Defendant] continues to support [a] device with software updates, services, content or accessories.” (Id. ¶ 39.) In January 2018, Defendant announced that, due to technological limitations, certain devices—not including those with the Lifetime Maps service—will not be able to renew maps or services or receive software updates and, though the device will continue to function, the map will become out-of-date such that navigation will be less accurate, and, under a heading of “Replacement Offer” consumers may consider purchasing a replacement device using a “rebate” (the “January 2018 Announcement”). (Id. ¶¶ 10, 45.) Consequently, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant changed its services from providing “Lifetime Maps” to offering “individual map zones,” for which users must switch from one map

zone to another by first downloading a new file onto their navigational device. (Id. ¶¶ 13–14.) When users download a new map zone onto their navigational device, the map zone replaces the users’ current map on your navigational device. (Id. ¶ 15.) Plaintiff claims that such changes make it impossible “to have a fully functioning map service that covers anywhere the user might drive as advertised by [D]efendant through the term ‘lifetime maps’ since downloading a new map zone deletes the user’s current map zone.” (Id. ¶ 16.) Plaintiff further alleges that an affected device’s capacity to continue to receive updates is “entirely dependent upon the prior updates distributed by [D]efendant to consumers,” and that “[b]y diminishing and/or eliminating the utility of affected devices, [D]efendant has been able to reverse and/or stem its decline in direct-to-consumer sales.” (Id. ¶¶ 42–43.) He also alleges that

“[D]efendant’s reliance on its sole discretion as to when it decides to cease providing updates disregards that consumers were buying hardware (the physical devices) and software (lifetime maps), such that its revocation of part of the transaction constitutes a taking under false pretenses and unconscionable commercial conduct.” (Id. ¶ 44.) Plaintiff, a citizen of Westchester County, New York (id.¶ 54), alleges that he purchased one of Defendant’s Products in 2012 (the “Device”) because he “desired to purchase a navigation device with lifetime maps to avoid having to place his device every few years.” (Id. ¶¶ 3, 73.) He alleges that he paid a premium for the Device because he “relied on [D]efendant’s promise of ‘Lifetime Maps’ when he chose the [Device] over other models.” (Id. ¶ 74). He alleges that the proposed classes for this putative class action include all consumers in New York who purchased any of Defendant’s navigation devices sold before 2013 “which were advertised as being sold with Lifetime Maps, but were rendered less valuable, following [D]efendant’s decision to terminate Lifetime Maps for users of those devices.” (Id. ¶ 61.)

II. Procedural Background On May 25, 2019, Plaintiff filed the original operative class action complaint (Compl., ECF No. 1.) On October 18, 2019, Defendant filed a letter seeking leave to file its first motion to dismiss, which the Court subsequently granted and for which it set a briefing schedule. (ECF Nos. 6 & 13.) After the parties filed their briefing on May 19, 2020, the Court granted Defendant’s first motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint for failure to state a claim on March 13, 2021. (ECF No. 23.) The Court further granted Plaintiff thirty days to file an amended complaint. (Id. at 15.) On April 12, 2021, Plaintiff filed his Amended Complaint, asserting claims for (1) violation of New York General Business Law §§ 349 and 350; (2) breach of express warranty; (3) breach of implied warranty of merchantability; (4) unjust enrichment; and (5) trespass to chattel. (Am. Compl., ECF No. 24.) As relief, Plaintiff seeks both monetary damages and injunctive relief that

would require Defendant to correct the Product’s alleged misrepresentation. (Id.) On June 25, 2021, Defendant again sought leave to file a motion to dismiss, which the Court subsequently granted and for which it issued a briefing schedule. (ECF Nos. 27 & 29.) On September 16, 2021, the parties filed their respective briefing on the instant motion: Defendant its notice of motion (ECF No. 30), memorandum in support (“Motion,” ECF No. 31), reply (“Reply,” ECF No. 32); and Plaintiff his response in opposition (“Response in Opposition,” ECF No. 33).

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McVetty v. TomTom North America, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcvetty-v-tomtom-north-america-inc-nysd-2022.