Francis v. Gen. Motors, LLC

504 F.Supp.3d 659

Richard FRANCIS, Wesley Won, Dennis Speerly, Joseph Siercio, Michael Plafker, Howard Young, and Darrin Degrand, Plaintiffs,

v.GENERAL MOTORS, LLC, Defendant.

Marisella Gutierrez, Jimmy Harman, Mark Kidd, and James Norvell, Plaintiffs,

v.General Motors, LLC, Defendant.

Case Number 19-11044, Case Number 19-12371

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed November 30, 2020

Beth M. Rivers, Michael L. Pitt, Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers, Royal Oak, MI, Douglas James McNamara, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Steven G. Calamusa, Gordon & Partners, PA, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Richard Francis, Wesley Won, Dennis Speerly, Joseph Sierchio, Michael Plafker, Howard Young, Darrin Degrand.

Mark A. Ozzello, Tarek H. Zohdy, Capstone Law, APC, Los Angeles, CA, Amey J. Park, Russell D. Paul, Berger Montague PC, Philadelphia, PA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Keith Shelton, Karen Shelton.

Amey J. Park, Russell D. Paul, Berger Montague PC, Philadelphia, PA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Steven G. Calamusa, Gordon & Partners, PA, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiff Daniel Drain.

Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Wavers Smith, Christopher Giles.

Amey J. Park, Russell D. Paul, Berger Montague PC, Philadelphia, PA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Richard Freeman, Samuel Ford, Colton Kelly.

Daniel E. Gustafson, Gustafson Gluek PLLC, Minneapolis, MN, E. Powell Miller, Emily E. Hughes, Sharon S. Almonrode, William Kalas, Dennis A. Lienhardt, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Joseph H. Meltzer, Melissa L. Troutner, Natalie Lesser, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, Radnor, PA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiff Louis Ray.

Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Steven G. Calamusa, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs Dennis Duffy, Richard Sullivan, Daniel Baptist, John Iasiello, Benjy Tompkins, Jay Hull, Guy Clark, Michael Sylvester, William Grossman, Carl Johnsen, Jeffrey Rice, Jason "Kevin" Sinclair, Nicolette Covey, Timothy Grafrath, Tait Thomas, James Paul Browne, William Fredo, Jon Ellard, Richard Noonan, Arif Shakoor, Richard "Terry" Shope, Rhianna Meyers, Randall Jacobs, Michael Ponder, Karina Fredo, Marc Mazza, Jimmy Flowers, Neil Ambrosio, Steven Brack, Charles Larsen, Clyde Cheng, Brian Lloyd.

Gretchen Freeman Cappio, Ryan Patrick McDevitt, Lynn L. Sarko, Tana Lin, Maxwell Holt Goins, Keller Rohrback LLP, Seattle, WA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Marisella Gutierrez, Jimmy Harman, Mark Kidd, James Norvell.

Amey J. Park, Russell D. Paul, Berger Montague PC, Philadelphia, PA, Cody R. Padgett, Steven R. Weinmann, Tarek H. Zohdy, Capstone Law, APC, Los Angeles, CA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Michael Banks, Phil Houk, Maria Barallardos, Chi Kim Ho, Philip Whicker, Charles Aiken, Donald Dykshorn, Donald Sicura, Christopher Krull.

Gretchen Freeman Cappio, Ryan Patrick McDevitt, Maxwell Holt Goins, Keller Rohrback LLP, Seattle, WA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Taurus King, Cary Sherrow, Kevin Wesley.

Dennis A. Lienhardt, Sharon S. Almonrode, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, Emily E. Hughes, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Joseph H. Meltzer, Melissa L. Troutner, Natalie Lesser, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, Radnor, PA, Julia Ann Horwitz, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Plaintiffs Kimberly Coulson, Troy Coulson, Andre McQuade, Philip Weeks.

Grant A. Newman, Stephanie A. Douglas, Bush Seyferth PLLC, Troy, MI, Jared Alexander Levine, Crowell & Moring LLP, New York, NY, Jerome Albert Murphy, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, MI, Kathleen T. Sooy, Rachel Paige Raphael, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, DC, for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS

DAVID M. LAWSON, United States District Judge

Driving a vehicle whose automatic transmission occasionally will "slip, buck, kick, jerk and harshly engage" can be an unpleasant experience at best. When the transmission causes the vehicle to perform erratically, such as with sudden or delayed acceleration, the vehicle may be unsafe to drive. So says a group of plaintiffs who purchased cars and trucks manufactured by defendant General Motors, LLC. They filed cases that have been consolidated in this Court on behalf of a putative class of the owners of thousands of vehicles that, they claim, have defective transmissions, which GM has refused to fix or replace under its express warranty.

The cases presently are before the Court on GM's motion to dismiss the consolidated amended class action complaint alleging claims for economic losses under a variety of legal theories. GM contends that the plaintiffs have failed to plead viable causes of action for the alleged defects in its transmission design. For reason discussed below, the motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Facts

Because the defendant has challenged the adequacy of the pleading in its motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the facts discussed below are taken from the 104-count, 2,920-paragraph consolidated amended class action complaint (CACAC), which spans 901 pages, including the attached exhibits. In that document, the plaintiffs attempt to set forth causes of action sounding in breaches of express and implied warranties; common law fraudulent omissions and statutory consumer fraud; violations of various state laws governing consumer sales, deceptive marketing, and unfair trade practices; and unjust enrichment under the laws of 32 states.

A. The Plaintiffs

The putative class consists of domestic buyers and lessors of GM cars and trucks equipped with its Hydra-Matic 8L90 and 8L45 transmissions. The class vehicles include the 2015 through 2019 model year Chevrolet Silverado; 2017-2019 Chevrolet Colorado; 2015-2019 Chevrolet Corvette; 2016-2019 Chevrolet Camaro; 2015-2019 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV; 2016-2019 Cadillac ATS, ATS-V, CTS, CT6, and CTS-V; 2015-2019 GMC Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL, and Yukon Denali XL; and 2017-2019 GMC Canyon.

The consolidated amended complaint aggregates claims brought by 62 individuals in five separately filed civil actions (file numbers 19-11044, 19-11802, 19-11808, 19-11875, and 19-12371), which were assigned or reassigned to this Court and consolidated for all pretrial proceedings. The plaintiffs who remain in the action hail from the following 33 states:

• Alabama (Brian Lloyd)

• Arizona (Maria Barallardos)

• Arkansas (James Browne)

• California (Clyde Cheng, Wesley Won)

• Colorado (Daniel Drain)

• Connecticut (Kevin Wesley)

• Delaware (Keith and Karen Shelton)

• Florida (Neil Ambrosio, Dennis Duffy, Rhianna Meyers, Michael Ponder, Arif Shakoor, Richard Sullivan, Tait Thomas)

• Georgia (Jimmy Flowers, Richard Freeman, Philip Weeks, Marisella Gutierrez) (*)

• Idaho (Cary Sherrow) (**)

• Illinois (Timothy Grafrath, Dennis Speerly)

• Indiana (Samuel Ford, Philip Whicker)

• Kansas (Guy Clark)

• Kentucky (James Norvell)

• Louisiana (Donald Dykshorn)

• Maine (Carl Johnsen)

• Michigan (Richard Francis, Jay Hull, Louis Ray)

• Minnesota (Troy and Kimberly Coulson)

• Missouri (Christopher Krull, Richard Noonan)

• New Hampshire (Michael Banks)

• New Jersey (William Grossman, Randall Jacobs, Joseph Sierchio)

• New York (Charles Larsen, Marc Mazza, Andre McQuade, Michael Plafker, Michael Sylvester)

• North Carolina (Richard Shope, Steven Brack, Jimmy Harman)

• Ohio (Chi Kim Ho, Jeffrey Rice)

• Oklahoma (Jon Ellard)

• Oregon (Cary Sherrow) (**)

• Pennsylvania (Charles Aiken, Karina and William Fredo)

• South Carolina (Donald Sicura, Jason Sinclair)

• South Dakota (Colton Kelly)

• Tennessee (Mark Kidd)

• Texas (Darrin Degrand, Taurus King, Howard Young, Marisella Gutierrez) (*)

• Washington (Nicolette Covey)

• Wisconsin (Phil Houk)

Two plaintiffs, Cary Sherrow and Marisella Gutierrez, were identified as leading parties and class representatives for claims and classes in more than one jurisdiction; Sherrow for both Idaho (where she bought her vehicle) and Oregon (where she presently resides); Gutierrez for both Georgia (where she lives) and Texas (where she bought her car).

All of the plaintiffs allege that their vehicles were equipped with defective transmissions. They seek legal and equitable relief under the legal theories discussed below.

B. Vehicle Sales

All the class vehicles were sold with an express limited warranty that GM issued, which in several materially identical iterations describes the scope of coverage as follows:

The warranty covers repairs to correct any vehicle defect, not slight noise, vibrations, or other normal characteristics of the vehicle due to materials or workmanship occurring during the warranty period. Needed

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