Takata defective airbag lawsuit to proceed in Florida

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Takata airbags MDL overview: 

• Who: A federal judge in Miami has declined to dismiss several complaints made by Florida car owners involved in a multi district litigation revolving around the use of allegedly defective Takata airbags. 
• Why: The judge ruled the Florida car owners had adequately alleged specific violations of state law. 
• Where: The MDL is being litigated in Florida federal court. 

A federal judge in Miami has declined to dismiss claims from several Florida car owners involved in a multidistrict litigation revolving around car manufacturers’ use of allegedly defective Takata airbags. 

The judge overseeing the MDL partly denied last week a joint motion filed by General Motors, FCA US, and Mercedes-Benz, and a joint motion filed by Audi and Volkswagen, ruling the car owners had adequately alleged specific state law violations. 

In the same order, the judge granted jurisdiction to the car owners, ruling that they had successfully shown a link between the car manufacturers and claims made under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. 

The judge determined further that the Floridian car owners had gone so far as to make the effort to show the specific locations of the car manufacturers’ authorized dealers and distribution centers. 

“No more ink need be spilled debating whether these Defendants purposefully availed themselves of the privileges of the Florida market,” the judge said.

Non-Florida car owners have claims partly dismissed by judge

The judge did, however, partly grant the car manufacturers motions to dismiss claims made by car owners who were not from Florida, which have been identified in the litigation as “recycler” plaintiffs, due to the nature of their allegations not being specific to the state. 

“The recycler plaintiffs’ complaint is slightly different,” the judge said. “Its allegations are similar to the consumers’, but the complaint does not allege from where the recyclers purchased their class vehicles.”

The judge also noted that the recycler plaintiffs also “ have a much different relationship to defendants than the consumers have.” 

The MDL stems from a number of complaints filed beginning in 2014 which alleged the Takata airbags were defective and could explode, shooting metal fragments and chemicals into a vehicles’ cabin. 

The Takata airbags would ultimately be subject to a nationwide recall, while 19 deaths have been linked to the allegedly defective airbags by the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, as of this writing. 

Takata would later plead guilty to wire fraud in 2017, at which time it agreed to pay $1 billion before ultimately filing for bankruptcy later that same year, reports Law360. 

In April, meanwhile, the judge granted final approval of a $42 million settlement agreement made by Volkswagen and Audi to resolve claims revolving around their use of the allegedly defective Takata airbags. 

Have you been affected by the allegedly defective Takata airbags? Let us know in the comments! 

The Takata airbags MDL is In re: Takata Airbag Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:15-md-02599, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 

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