GM Ordered to Face Class Action Over Faulty Transmissions Affecting 800,000 Vehicles

Nationalglint August 30, 2024 in Business, Contemporary, Global - 2 Minutes

GM Ordered to Face Class Action Over Faulty Transmissions Affecting 800,000 Vehicles

Federal Appeals Court Clears Path for Class Action Against GM Over Alleged Transmission Defects

Nationalglint

General Motors (GM) has been ordered by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to face a class action lawsuit claiming it violated the laws of 26 U.S. states by knowingly selling several hundred thousand vehicles with defective transmissions. The case concerns Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles equipped with 8L45 or 8L90 eight-speed automatic transmissions, sold between 2015 and 2019.

According to the lawsuit, drivers allege that these vehicles exhibit shuddering and shaking in higher gears, as well as hesitation and lurching in lower gears, even after multiple repair attempts. They also accuse GM of instructing dealers to assure customers that these issues were “normal.”

The decision was handed down on Wednesday by a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based appeals court, allowing drivers to pursue their claims collectively. This ruling could impact approximately 800,000 vehicles, including 514,000 in the certified classes.

Among the vehicles affected are the Cadillac CTS, CT6, and Escalade; Chevrolet Camaro, Colorado, Corvette, and Silverado; and GMC Canyon, Sierra, and Yukon.

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GM, which has yet to respond to the court’s decision, argued against class certification by stating that many class members had not experienced any issues and thus lacked standing to sue. They also contended that the diversity among the plaintiffs’ experiences with the vehicles made a class action inappropriate.

However, Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore dismissed these arguments, asserting that the alleged overpayment for defective vehicles provided sufficient standing. She further noted that the specific experiences of individual plaintiffs were irrelevant to whether GM had concealed known defects and whether such information would have been material to buyers.

The court also rejected GM’s assertion that many claims should be resolved through arbitration, sending the case back to U.S. District Judge David Lawson in Detroit, who initially certified the classes in March 2023.

“We look forward to holding GM accountable before a Michigan jury,” said Ted Leopold, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll representing the drivers.

The case, Speerly et al v. General Motors LLC, is now set to continue in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals under the case number 23-1940.