BMW Survives Mini Cooper Transmission Defect Class Action

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A federal judge dismissed a Mini Cooper transmission defect class action lawsuit, writing that the plaintiffs have not alleged sufficient evidence in order to meet the pleading standards.

Lead plaintiff Michael Callaghan alleges that he purchased a MINI Cooper S, a turbocharged variant of the small car, but was not informed that the transmission would need to have its fluids maintained or replaced, according to the original Mini Cooper class action lawsuit. However in the second amended complaint, he and other plaintiffs argued that BMW of North America had misled them not regarding the transmission fluid, but rather that the entire system was liable to wear down prematurely.

The judge did not find enough evidence to support the putative Class’ assertions that BMW of North America had knowingly covered up any transmission defect for the MINI Cooper S. He noted that the reports and complaints regarding these problems made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding the car did exist, they occurred after all but one of the plaintiffs had bought their vehicles, meaning that they could not point to them as evidence of the company being aware of the problem in the first place. In addition, they did not uncover any internal company communications that would support the claims.

Perhaps more importantly, the second amended complaint for the transmission defect class action lawsuit did not satisfy an Occam’s Razor test. Put more simply, the judge was unable to glean from the facts included in the complaint any information that indicated that it was more likely that there is a defect versus any other cause of the transmission is wearing out. For example parts such as clutches and others are affected by friction and may fail for any number of reasons.

As a result, the judge wrote, “This results in insurmountable defects in pleading viability.” The order granting the motion to dismiss with leave to amend the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit added that “under the current vague generalities, the scope of discovery arguably would include a request calling for defendants to produce everything relating to the automatic transmissions of the Mini Cooper S model vehicles.”

The putative Class is represented by Natasha Ketan Mehta, Michael Miller, Mark Pifko and Roland K. Tellis of Baron & Budd.

The Mini Cooper Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Michael Callaghan, et al. v. BMW of North America LLC, et al., Case No. 3:13-cv-04794, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.