In re Takata Airbag Prods. Liab. Litig. Loss Track Cases

• Decision Date: 03 May 2019
• Docket Number: MDL No. 2599,Economic Loss No. 14-24009-CV-MORENO,Master File No. 15-02599-MD-MORENO
• Citation: 379 F.Supp.3d 1333
• Parties: IN RE: TAKATA AIRBAG PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION This Document Relates to All Economic Loss Track Cases
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

379 F.Supp.3d 1333

IN RE: TAKATA AIRBAG PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION

This Document Relates to All Economic Loss Track Cases

MDL No. 2599

Master File No. 15-02599-MD-MORENO

Economic Loss No. 14-24009-CV-MORENO

United States District Court, S.D. Florida, Miami Division.

Signed May 3, 2019

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTIONS TO DISMISS BY DEFENDANTS FCA, GENERAL MOTORS, MERCEDES-BENZ, AUDI, AND VOLKSWAGEN

FEDERICO A. MORENO, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This multidistrict litigation ("MDL") consolidates allegations of economic loss and personal injury related to airbags manufactured by defendants Takata Corporation and TK Holdings (collectively, "Takata") and equipped in vehicles manufactured by Defendants FCA US LLC ("FCA"), General Motors Company, General Motors Holdings LLC, General Motors LLC (collectively, "General Motors"), Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (collectively, "Mercedes-Benz"), Audi Aktiengesellschaft, Audi of America, LLC (collectively, "Audi"), Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (collectively, with Audi, "Volkswagen") (all automotive manufacturers collectively, "Defendants"). While the Court divided the MDL's component cases into two tracks—economic loss for plaintiffs alleging purely economic damages and personal injury for plaintiffs alleging damages to a person—this Order pertains only to economic loss cases.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Defendant FCA's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2983) , Defendant General Motors's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2981) , and Defendants Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 2988) (collectively, the "Motions" or "Motions to Dismiss"), all filed on August 20, 2018. Individually, the Motions seek to dismiss all claims alleged in three separate Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints: Boyd v. FCA US LLC ("Boyd ") (D.E. 2758) ; Whitaker v. General Motors Company, et al. ("Whitaker ") (D.E. 2759) ; and Puhalla v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, et al.¹ ("Puhalla ") (D.E. 2762) (collectively, the "Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints").

THE COURT has thoroughly reviewed the Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints, the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss, the Plaintiffs' Omnibus Response in Opposition (D.E. 3034), and the Defendants' Reply memoranda (D.E. 3094, 3098, 3103). The Court also heard oral argument from the parties on certain issues raised in the moving papers. (See D.E. 3139). This Order pertains only to the direct-file and claim splitting issues raised by certain Defendants. The Court reserves ruling on all other issues and claims not discussed below (including all claims advanced by the Automotive Recycler Plaintiffs). For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are consumers of Defendants' vehicles that are equipped with Takata airbags containing the propellant ammonium nitrate. Plaintiffs allege ammonium nitrate is an innately volatile and unstable propellant that imposes an unreasonable risk of serious foreseeable harm or death upon drivers of Defendants' vehicles. The crux of Plaintiffs' legal claims is that Defendants knew or should have known of these defects prior to installing the Takata airbags in their vehicles, and that Defendants concealed from, or failed to notify, the Plaintiffs and the general public of the full and complete nature of the defect, despite being aware of problems arising during the design and testing process, and through various rupture incidents and recalls. Defendants vigorously contest the sufficiency of Plaintiffs' allegations, and the constitutional bases for this Court to exercise personal jurisdiction over Defendants.

A. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 14, 2018, Plaintiffs commenced this litigation against Defendants by simultaneously filing four complaints in district courts where the Defendants are incorporated, or hold their principal places of business, and by filing three complaints directly in this MDL proceeding. The four complaints filed in transferor district courts (collectively, the "Transferor Complaints") include: Brugaletta, et. al., v. General Motors Company, et al. , Case No. 2:18-cv-10852-PDB-DRG (E.D. Mich. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Brugaletta "); Dwinnells, et. al., v. FCA US LLC , Case No. 2:18-cv-10848-BAF-APP (E.D. Mich. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Dwinnells "); Maestri, et. al., v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, et. al. , Case No. 1:18-cv-01070-WSD (N.D. Ga. Mar. 14, 2018) ("Maestri "); and McBride v. Audi of America, LLC, et al. , Case No. 1:18-cv-00284-LO-MSN (E.D. Va. Mar. 14, 2018) ("McBride ").² The same day Plaintiffs filed the Transferor Complaints, they also filed in the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's ("JPML") docket a notice of potential tag-along actions concerning these four complaints. See In re Takata Airbag Litigation , MDL No. 2599, D.E. 962 (J.P.M.L. Mar. 14, 2018). This Court later accepted the JPML's transfer of Brugaletta , Dwinnells , and McBride into this MDL in April 2018 (see D.E. 2467, 2532–33, 2644), and accepted transfer of Maestri in June 2018 (D.E. 2881).

The same day the Transferor Complaints were filed, Plaintiffs directly filed three complaints in this MDL proceeding: Boyd (D.E. 2429); Whitaker (D.E. 2428); and Puhalla (D.E. 2430) (collectively, the "Consolidated Class Action Complaints"). In May 2018, Plaintiffs amended each of the Consolidated Class Action Complaints, pursuant to Court Order, to excluded claims asserted by the so-called "Recycler Plaintiffs." (See D.E. 2651.) It is these "Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints" (collectively, the "Direct File Complaints"), that Defendants' Motions seek to dismiss in their entirety.

B. SUBSTANCE OF UNDERLYING COMPLAINTS

The Direct File Complaints are not simply consolidations of the Transferor Complaints. The Direct File Complaints include several new plaintiffs who are not named in the Transferor Complaints and who have not separately filed lawsuits in any other federal district court: the Boyd Complaint includes one new plaintiff, Victor Khoury of Florida, who does not appear in the Dwinnells Complaint; the Whitaker Complaint includes one new plaintiff, David Whitaker of Florida, who does not appear in the Brugaletta Complaint; and the Puhalla Complaint includes 23 new plaintiffs³ who never appear in the Alters , McBride , Krmpotic , or Maestri Complaints.⁴

Furthermore, while the Transferor Complaints assert common-law claims for negligence, fraud, and/or unjust enrichment, in addition to claims for violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the deceptive trade practices statutes of the states where each Transferor Complaint was filed, the Direct File Complaints add a litany of new claims—on behalf of the new plaintiffs and the plaintiffs originating in the Transferor Complaints—including nationwide RICO class action claims, statewide class action claims arising under numerous state deceptive trade practices statutes, claims for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability under the laws of several states, and in some cases, new common-law claims. In this Order, the plaintiffs originating in the Transferor Complaints are referred to as the "Transferor Plaintiffs," and the new plaintiffs originating in the Direct File Complaints are referred to as the "Direct File Plaintiffs."

It is true that the Direct File Complaints subsumed the claims advanced in the Transferor Complaints, but to be clear, Plaintiffs did not simply consolidate two separate legal actions. Instead of filing separate lawsuits in the Southern District of Florida, seeking intra-district transfer of these cases into the MDL proceeding, and then consolidating the locally filed actions with the Transferor Complaints—as the MDL procedural scheme anticipates—Plaintiffs filed the "Consolidated" Class Action Complaints directly in this Court's MDL docket. These complaints directly add the Direct File Plaintiffs and their respective claims, while also adding new claims on behalf of the Transferor Plaintiffs. To this extent, the Direct File Plaintiffs and their claims, and the new claims asserted by the Transferor Plaintiffs, are "direct-filed" here in this MDL proceeding.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

"A pleading that states a claim for relief must contain ... a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). To survive a motion to dismiss, a "complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ " Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but a pleading must offer more, than "labels and conclusions" or "a formulaic recitation of the elements of the cause of action." Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

III. DISCUSSION

Defendants separately move to dismiss with prejudice each of the Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction. Defendants argue inter alia : (1) the Court lacks general personal jurisdiction under the MDL statute, 28 U.S.C. Section 1407, because the Plaintiffs direct-filed the Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaints in the MDL proceeding, and because none of the Defendants are "at home" in Florida; and (2) the Court lacks specific personal jurisdiction under the RICO statute's nationwide service of process provision, 18 U.S.C. Section 1965(d), because Plaintiffs fail to state a plausible RICO claim. In response, Plaintiffs argue the Court can exercise personal jurisdiction over all Defendants pursuant to its authority as an MDL transferee court under Section 1407, and under the RICO statute's nationwide service of process provision.

The personal jurisdiction issues before the Court...