Chiulli v. Am. Honda Motor Co.

690 F.Supp.3d 1038

Constance CHIULLI, et al., Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC., et al., Defendants.

Case No. 22-cv-06225-MMC

United States District Court, N.D. California

Signed September 6, 2023

Laura E. Goolsby, Cody Robert Padgett, Tarek H. Zohdy, Capstone Lawyers, APC, Los Angeles, CA, Abigail J. Gertner, Pro Hac Vice, Amey J. Park, Pro Hac Vice, Russell D. Paul, Berger Montague, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs Constance Chiulli, Jacob Montgomery, Jedediah Beech.

Laura E. Goolsby, Tarek H. Zohdy, Capstone Lawyers, APC, Los Angeles, CA, for Plaintiffs Joshua Meisel, David Sussesles, Thomas Kreidel.

Eric Y. Kizirian, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Los Angeles, CA, for Defendant American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS; GRANTING LEAVE TO AMEND; DIRECTIONS TO PARTIES

MAXINE M. CHESNEY, United States District Judge

Before the Court is defendant American Honda Motor Co. Inc.'s ("Honda")¹ motion, filed May 1, 2023, "to Dismiss Plaintiff's Second Amended Class Action Complaint." Plaintiff Constance Chiulli ("Chiulli") has filed opposition, to which Honda has replied. Having read and considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to the motion, the Court rules as follows.²

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are six individuals who each purchased a new or used 2016-2020 model year Honda Civic or Accord (hereinafter, "the Subject Vehicles") equipped with an integrated in-vehicle communication and entertainment system (hereinafter, "Infotainment System"). (See SAC ¶¶ 17-18, 28-29, 39-40, 49-50, 59-60, 68-69.) In this putative class action, they allege the Infotainment System in 2016-2020 model year Honda Civics, Accords, and CR-Vs (hereinafter, "the Class Vehicles") is defective in that it "malfunctions, freezes, or crashes, which in turn causes the inoperability of one or more features (including, inter alia, the navigation; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning ('HVAC'); music/radio; display screen; Bluetooth/phone; and backup camera functionalities) (hereinafter, "the Infotainment System Defect"). (See SAC ¶ 4.)

Plaintiffs allege the Infotainment System Defect "poses an unreasonable safety hazard" in that it "causes drivers to become distracted, by impairing or rendering inoperative many of the Infotainment System's safety features." (See SAC ¶ 108.) In particular, plaintiffs allege that "once the [Infotainment System] Defect has manifested . . . a driver often cannot, among other things: (1) pair an electronic device using Bluetooth; (2) answer calls or make calls, even if the driver's cellular phone was paired via Bluetooth before the [Infotainment System] Defect manifested; or (3) use the navigation system by viewing nearby vendors, such as gas stations, on the display, or entering destinations into the navigation system." (See SAC ¶ 109.) Further, plaintiffs allege, "the [Infotainment System] Defect often results in distortion, masking, or canceling out of the rear-view camera's images, rending the camera unusable." (See SAC ¶ 110.) Plaintiffs allege that "[d]rivers become accustomed to the use of back-up and blind-spot cameras" (see SAC ¶ 111), that "when the blind spot feed fails, drivers continue to, out of habit, look at the blank screen for cues about blind spots and obstructions, only to realize the screen is blank and that they must adjust their driving behaviors in real time" (see SAC ¶ 111), and that "[a] freezing back-up camera feed can give the driver the false impression that there are no obstructions behind their vehicle as they reverse" (see SAC ¶ 112).

Plaintiffs allege they experienced manifestations of the Infotainment System Defect as follows:

• Constance Chiulli is a California resident who, "[o]n or around May 27, 2019, . . . purchased a new 2019 Honda Civic from Walnut Creek Honda, an authorized Honda dealership in Walnut Creek, California." (See SAC ¶¶ 17-18.) "Shortly after purchase," she "began experiencing Infotainment System problems." (See SAC ¶ 22.) In particular, "her vehicle's infotainment system would not recognize her phone, its screen would go blank, its microphone would not function, and its cameras would not function." (See SAC ¶ 22.)

• Joshua Meisel is a California resident who, "[o]n or around September 16, 2018, . . . purchased a used 2016 Honda Civic with approximately 26,237 miles on the odometer from Galpin Honda, an authorized Honda dealership in San Fernando, California." (See SAC ¶¶ 28-29.) "Within six months of his purchase, . . . Meisel began experiencing [I]nfotainment [S]ystem problems"; specifically, "his vehicle's [I]nfotainment [S]ystem will completely fail, lose Bluetooth functionality, show distorted images and text, and fail to generate a clear image from the backup camera, not recognize his phone, its screen will go blank, its microphone will not function, and its cameras will not function." (See SAC ¶ 33.)

• Jacob Mongtomery is a Florida resident who, "[o]n or around June 26, 2021, . . . purchased a used 2017 Honda Accord Touring with 10,807 on the odometer from Page Honda of Bloomfield, an authorized Honda dealership located in Bloomfield, Michigan." (See SAC ¶¶ 39-40.) "Within a few months of ownership, when the vehicle had approximately 15,000 miles on the odometer, . . . Montgomery noticed that the Infotainment System in his vehicle [was] malfunctioning, particularly when trying to use Apple CarPlay or use the navigation." (See SAC ¶ 44.) In particular, "[t]he screen on the Infotainment System [would] black out," forcing Montgomery to "restart his vehicle to get it functioning again." (See SAC ¶ 44.)

• Jedediah Beech is a Maryland resident who, "[o]n or around September 4, 2017, . . . purchased a new 2017 Honda Civic from Ourisman Honda of Tyson Corners, an authorized Honda dealership located in Tyson Corners, Virginia." (See SAC ¶¶ 49-50.) "In or around January 2018," Beech "began noticing that the Infotainment System in his . . . [v]ehicle exhibited unresponsiveness, including freezing when connecting his phone, and occasionally required him to restart the vehicle to unfreeze the system." (See SAC ¶ 54.)

• David Susseles is a Maryland resident who, "[o]n or around October 5, 2019, . . . purchased a certified pre-owned 2018 Honda Accord with 4,317 miles on the odometer from O'Donnell Honda, an authorized Honda dealership located in Ellicott City, Maryland." (See SAC ¶¶ 59-60.) "Within a few months of ownership," Susseles "noticed that the Infotainment System in his vehicle [was] malfunctioning, particularly when trying to use Apple CarPlay." (See SAC ¶ 64.) In particular, "[t]he Infotainment System would reset itself and stop in the middle of GPS service, distracting him while driving." (See SAC ¶ 64.)

• Thomas Kreidel is a Virginia resident who, "[o]n or around March 18, 2017, . . . purchased a new 2016 Honda Accord from Priority Honda, an authorized Honda dealership located in Chesapeake, Virginia." (See Sac ¶¶ 68-69.) "Within a few months of ownership," Kreidel "began to experience the Infotainment System Defect." (See SAC ¶ 73.) "Specifically, the Infotainment System [would] freeze[ ], usually within ten minutes of use of Apple CarPlay, forcing . . . Kreidel to unplug his phone and wait for the Infotainment System to reboot"; also it would "turn itself off without warning." (See SAC ¶ 73.)

Plaintiffs allege that, as early as 2015, "Honda knew about the Infotainment System Defect through sources not available to consumers, including pre-release testing data, early consumer complaints to Honda and its dealers who are their agents for vehicle repairs, consumer complaints regarding earlier model years equipped with the same Infotainment System, testing conducted in response to those complaints, high failure rates and replacement part sales data, consumer complaints to the NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] (which Honda monitors), by developing TSBs [Technical Service Bulletins] in an effort to address the Infotainment System Defect, and through other aggregate data from Honda dealers about the problem." (See SAC ¶ 138.) Plaintiffs allege that, had they "known of the Infotainment System Defect, they would have paid less" for their vehicles, "or would not have purchased or leased them" at all. (See SAC ¶ 150.)

Plaintiffs further allege that the Class Vehicles are covered under a warranty. In particular, the SAC alleges that defendants "sold the Class Vehicles with a 3-year/36,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty ('NVLW')," which warranty "purports to cover the Infotainment System" (see SAC ¶ 7), and provides, in relevant part, that "Honda will repair or replace any part that is defective in material or workmanship under normal use," and that "[a]ll repairs/replacements made under this warranty are free of charge" (see SAC ¶ 231). Plaintiffs allege Honda breached the NVLW "by selling and leasing Class Vehicles with Infotainment Systems that were defective, requiring repair or replacement within the warranty period, and refusing to honor the express warranty by repairing or replacing, free of charge, the Infotainment System." (See SAC ¶ 232.) Additionally, plaintiffs allege, "when [Honda] did agree to pay a portion of the costs, [Honda] nevertheless breached the express warranty by simply replacing Class Members' defective Infotainment Systems with similarly defective Infotainment Systems, thus failing to 'repair' the defect." (See SAC ¶ 232.)

Based on the above allegations, plaintiffs assert, on behalf of a putative nationwide class³ and six sub-classes,⁴ the following seventeen causes of action: (1) "Violation of California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California Civil Code § 1750, et seq." ("CLRA"); (2) "Violation of California Business & Professions Code § 17200 et seq." ("UCL"); (3) "Breach of Implied Warranty Pursuant to Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California Civil Code §§ 1792 and 1791.1, et seq."; (4) "Breach of Express Warranty...