Chapman v. Gen. Motors LLC
| Decision Date | 31 March 2021 |
| Docket Number | 2:19-CV-12333-TGB-DRG |
| Parties | Mark D. CHAPMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL MOTORS LLC, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Bonnie J. Rickert, Lauren A. Akers, Robert Hilliard, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales, LLP, Corpus Christi, TX, Dennis A. Lienhardt, Sharon S. Almonrode, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, Emily E. Hughes, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Jerrod C. Patterson, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, Steve W. Berman, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Seattle, WA, for Plaintiffs Mark D. Chapman, Leroy Gwinn, Jr., William McDuffie, Clay Kincheloe, Bryan Joyce, Tim Taylor.
Bonnie J. Rickert, Robert Hilliard, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales, LLP, Corpus Christi, TX, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, Rochester, MI, Steve W. Berman, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Seattle, WA, for Plaintiffs John Cappiello, Nathan Howton, Michael Jon McCormick, Richard Egleberry, Trisha Alliss, Arnold Recchia, Holly Reasor.
Paul J. Schwiep, Pro Hac Vice, Coffey Burlington, P.L., Miami, FL, Adam Michael Wenner, Jeffrey K. Lamb, Honigman LLP, Detroit, MI, April N. Ross, Kathleen T. Sooy, Rachel Paige Raphael, Corwell & Moring LLP, Washington, DC, Honor Rose Costello, Crowell and Moring LLP, New York, NY, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS (ECF NO. 48);
AND RESOLVING OTHER MOTIONS (ECF NOS. 52, 62, 68, 69, 72, 74, 75, and 78)
This is a large putative class action: twenty-one Named Plaintiffs seek to sue General Motors ("GM") over its use of the Bosch CP4 fuel pump in GMC and Chevrolet diesel trucks from model yearyeah thas 2011-2016. They allege fraud on GM's part that has subsequently caused them to suffer injury. There are 114 counts in the 574-page Second Amended Complaint ("SAC") covering federal law as well as state fraudulent concealment, breach of contract, consumer protection, warranty, and unjust enrichment claims under the laws of 49 states. ECF No. 40. For the reasons that follow, Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 48) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART . A summary of the counts that survive and those that do not is included in the Table of Claims that follows the Order. Additionally, Defendant's motion to strike Plaintiffs’ class allegations is DENIED.
Plaintiffs all bought diesel fuel GMC and Chevrolet trucks from GM for the model years 2011-2016, with 6.6L Duramax
engines and a Bosch CP4 model high-pressure fuel injection pump. ¶ 1, ECF No. 40, PageID.3393. They allege injury at the point of sale: they paid a premium of $5,000-8,000 for these trucks because they run on diesel and were advertised to have a longer life, greater fuel efficiency, and other features above and beyond other vehicles. Id. at ¶ 7, PageID.3393.
The CP4 pump is the lynchpin of the trucks’ fuel supply system. As alleged by Plaintiffs, design flaws in the CP4 pump cause dangerous rubbing and friction between metal parts of the pump when it runs. The result is a buildup of metal shavings in the fuel system that begins to accumulate as early as the first time the engine is started. Contamination from the metal debris can lead to catastrophic engine failure. Id. at ¶¶ 123-35, PageID.3478-85. This wear and tear in the fuel system, and the subsequent potential for malfunction, is exacerbated by a factor unique to the United States: our diesel fuel is "drier," or less lubricious, than the diesel fuel available in other countries due to our different regulatory standards.1 The CP4 pump itself uses the diesel fuel for lubrication. Due to its poor design that inherently requires more lubrication than other fuel pumps, Plaintiffs allege that our "dry" diesel is uniquely unsuited to keep a CP4 pump functioning properly. Id. at ¶¶ 148-52, PageID.3491-93.
It is this combination of the alleged subpar pump design and lack of lubricity from U.S. diesel fuel that leads to wear and tear which can cause the small metal shavings to build up within the pump or within the engine block and fuel system generally. Too much buildup of metal in the fuel injectors can lead to "catastrophic failure" where the truck will immediately stop running, requiring a tow and often replacement of not just the fuel injectors, but the entire fuel supply system in the vehicle. Id. at ¶¶ 137-40, PageID.3486-87. Because the fuel injection system and engine component parts are contaminated with metal shards, during a catastrophic failure event the vehicle often shuts off while in motion and cannot be restarted. Id. at ¶ 4, PageID.3392.
By way of example, Plaintiff Nathan Howton purchased a used 2015 Chevrolet Sierra 2500 HD in September 2015 from an authorized GM dealership. In February 2019, he was traveling with his family and stopped to refuel. Two miles into their resumed journey, "the engine backfired, creating a plume of smoke." The truck lost power and Plaintiff had to "coast the truck onto the driveway of an unoccupied home." The family spent the night in their trailer. Upon finally getting to a GM dealership, Howton was told that GM would not cover the repair expense related to the CP4 pump because the truck was out of warranty. Id. at ¶ 73, PageID.3442. He inspected the engine and injection pump himself and found a significant quantity of metal shavings, a photograph of which appears in the SAC:
Sixteen of the named Plaintiffs report experiencing a similar catastrophic failure stall out while driving, requiring their truck to be towed and resulting in an eventual repair cost sometimes reaching $10,000 or more. And even if the vehicle does not fail, wear and tear on the pump (which Plaintiffs allege will always occur to some degree due to its design and the use of "dry" diesel fuel) will damage the fuel injectors and other parts of the engine. Id. at ¶ 141, PageID.3487.
Plaintiffs allege GM was aware of these issues with the CP4 fuel pump even before it began to sell trucks with the pump incorporated. Despite that, it marketed the vehicles as having increased durability and fuel efficiency, in part due to their use of diesel. Id. at ¶¶ 8, 185. Plaintiffs also allege that GM did not take steps to remedy the problem, and instead actively concealed the defect for as long as possible. Id. at ¶¶ 9, 186-88. GM stopped using the CP4 pump after the 2016 model year of the class vehicles, switching to another model of pump that had been in use since 2004. Id. at ¶ 218.
Plaintiffs allege the following broad categories of claims under federal law and the laws of 49 states2 and the District of Columbia:
There are 114 counts: one for the MMWA, one for fraudulent concealment on behalf...
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