Honda Power Window Defect Class Action Survives Dismissal

A federal judge yesterday rejected a bid by American Honda Motor Co. to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the automaker of failing to disclose a power window defect in certain models.

On June 10, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson allowed plaintiffs to proceed with claims that Honda was aware of the alleged power window defect when it sold the vehicles in question, finding they had sufficiently alleged violations of California and Iowa consumer protection laws. Judge Wilson did, however, trim breach-of-warranty claims under New Jersey and Tennessee law, as well as a New Jersey consumer protection claim and a claim under California’s Song-Beverly Act.

The Honda window defect class action lawsuit was originally filed in 2012 by plaintiffs Phyllis Grodzitsky of San Diego and Jeremy Bordelon of Tennessee, who claim the windows in their Honda vehicles dropped into the door frame and became stuck or broken.

They claim the alleged power window defect is caused by a defective piece of plastic that is meant to keep the windows in place while the window motor operates. The class action lawsuit says the piece of plastic is weak and breaks under normal operating conditions, causing the problems that Grodzitsky, Bordelon and other Honda owners have complained about.

Grodzitsky and Bordelon amended their complaint in February 2013 after Judge Wilson found they had insufficiently proven that Honda knew about the power window defect based, among other things, that Honda had received online complaints from consumers about the power window failure.

In the amended class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs pointed to pre-release testing of the window regulators, repair reports, replacement part orders, service-center bulletins – in addition to consumer complaints – as evidence that Honda knew about the problem but failed to disclose it.

In his order yesterday, Judge Wilson seemed to agree with the plaintiffs’ contention that the allegations “construct a factual context in which Honda’s prior knowledge of the defect from multiple sources is plausible.”

The Honda Power Window Defect Class Action Lawsuit case is Phyllis Grodzitsky et al. v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Case No. 12-cv-1142, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jonathan D. Selbin, Kristen E. Law-Sagafi, Mark P. Chalos and Annika K. Martin of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.