Class Action: GM Made False Claims About Cadillac CTS Safety Ratings

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A group of plaintiffs are asking a Florida federal judge to certify four classes in a class action lawsuit, alleging that General Motors advertised false safety ratings for its Cadillac CTS.

The four classes proposed in the Cadillac class action lawsuit include a Florida class, a Tennessee class, a nationwide unjust enrichment class, and a multi-state breach of express warranty class.

The classes are all for those “who  purchased or leased a 2014 Cadillac CTS that had affixed to them false and deceptive information concerning the [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] NHTSA safety ratings for the vehicle.

The multi-state class is for those living in 30 states and the District of Columbia, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,Washington, and Wisconsin.

Plaintiff Geri Siano Carriuolo wants to represent the Florida class and  plaintiff Peter Bracchi wants to represent the Tennessee class. The two plaintiffs want to co-represent the nationwide and multi-state class.

The General Motors false advertising class action lawsuit alleges that the 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedans, which the two plaintiffs purchased in late 2013 from Cadillac dealerships in Florida and Tennessee, were sold with inaccurate safety claims.

“Affixed to both vehicles was a so-called ‘Monroney sticker’ containing information about the vehicles. The Monroney sticker, which GM was required to affix to vehicles pursuant to federal law presents information about the vehicles in a standardized form and using standardized measures to enable consumers to directly compare vehicle features, including gas mileage, equipment, and safety ratings and information,” the class action lawsuit explained.

The Monroney stickers are supposed to contain safety rating information from the NHTSA, which includes a “‘graphic depiction of the number of stars, or other applicable rating, that corresponds to each such assigned safety rating displayed in a clearly differentiated fashion indicating the maximum possible safety rating.”

If there aren’t any federal safety ratings available, then “the Monroney sticker must contain ‘a statement to that effect.'”

The Monroney sticker includes a “Government 5-Star Safety Rating.”

The sticker on the 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan “cites the ‘Source’ of these ratings as the ‘National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” the Cadillac CTS class action lawsuit states.

“The stickers indicated that the cars had received three NHTSA safety ratings. Specifically, the sticker indicated the 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan had received five stars — for three different categories — Frontal Crash Driver, Frontal Crash Passenger, and Rollover,” the Cadillac class action lawsuit explains.

However, the plaintiffs say that “those representations were false.

“It is undisputed that at the time of the Class Members’ purchases, the 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan had not received any five-star ratings for any NHTSA safety category,” the class action lawsuit says.  “In fact, the NHTSA had not tested the 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan for any safety ratings as of the time of Plaintiffs’ purchases.”

The plaintiffs were informed about the inaccurate Monroney sticker in a letter sent out by GM in May 2014. The letter also included a replacement sticker, the class action lawsuit explained.

The plaintiffs are charging General Motors with violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA), violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), unjust enrichment, and breach of express warranty. Each of the four allegations match up with each of the four classes, respectively.

The plaintiffs are represented by Donald R. Fountain Jr. of Clark Fountain La Vista Prather Keen & Littky-Rubin LLP, Jeffrey M. Liggio of Liggio Benrubi PA and Edward F. Haber ofShapiro Haber & Urmy LLP.

GM is represented by Laurie M. Riley, David G. Radlauer and Thomas A. Casey Jr. ofJones Walker LLP.

The Cadillac False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Carriuolo et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 0:14-cv-61429, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.