Karina Basso  |  December 26, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Nissan logoOn Dec. 19, a Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit was denied Class certification by the presiding New Jersey federal judge, who ruled that all the Class claims brought forth by the suit’s named plaintiffs cannot be supported by evidence and are untimely.

The transmission defect class action lawsuit alleges Nissan North America Inc. knowingly sold cars with defective transmissions, which—due to a faulty valve part in certain Maxima five speed automatic transmission models—caused shift delays and various other problems.

Nissan’s motion for summary judgment of various claims brought forth by the remaining named plaintiffs was granted by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas, while simultaneously denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a Nissan Class certification. The decertification ruling by Judge Irenas came just a few days after the judge dismissed claims raised by two additional Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit plaintiffs.

Lead plaintiff Tameka Nelson filed this transmission defect class action lawsuit in 2011, alleging that in many 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima vehicles, “the absence of a transmission cooling system, combined with the metallic composition of certain transmission parts, caused overheating of the transmission system, which, over time, caused extensive wearing of the relevant parts, leading to the harsh shift problem.” Soon after, other plaintiffs joined Nelson’s class action lawsuit.

In September 2012, plaintiffs’ claims of unconscionability and breach of implied warranty of merchantability were dismissed by Judge Irenas. However, the judge refused to toss Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit claims of breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, and consumer fraud claims under several state’s laws.

In May of this year, Nissan filed five separate motions for summary judgment against the lead plaintiffs, who responded a month later that Nissan was attempting to dodge the allegations brought forth in the transmission defect class action lawsuit by claiming it did not know of the defect, as the transmission valve part came from a supplier.

On Dec. 16 and 18, Judge Irenas dismissed the claims of lead plaintiffs Karim Abdullah and Nancy Ebner, whittling down the number of plaintiffs from five to three. The judge found that no juror would reasonably find that Abdullah experienced Nissan transmission defects during the outlined Nissan warranty period. In regards to Ebner’s claim of breach of express warranty and Consumer Sales Practices Act, Judge Irenas ruled the claims were untimely, and additionally, the plaintiff could not demonstrate evidence that the automaker was aware of the Nissan transmission defect, and thus could not have misrepresented the product to Ebner or other plaintiffs.

For similar reasons as stated in the cases of Abdullah and Ebner, Judge Irena also dismissed the remaining three lead plaintiffs’ claims.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph G. Sauder, Matthew D. Schelkopf and Benjamin F. Johns of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP and by Michael A. Caddell, Cynthia B. Chapman and Cory S. Fein of Caddell & Chapman.

The Nissan Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Nelson, et al. v. Nissan North America Inc., et al., Case No. 1:11-cv-05712, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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37 thoughts onNissan Transmission Defect Class Action Decertified

  1. Chris Posey says:

    Nissan of Reno completely misdiagnosed my 05 Maxima, gave me NEW MOTOR MOUNTS! AND SENT ME ON MY MERRY WAY… $4000 LATER. GOT RID OF IT AND NOW I DRIVE A 98 4RUNNER! PRIOR AND CURRENT OWNERS SHOULD BE REIMBURSED FOR THE WORK DONE AS IT WAS AROUND THE SAME TIME AS MY FIX AND WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT THE CORRECT ONE!

  2. Miss Lottery says:

    My 2014 Murano is jerking and will not pick up speed, they told me about 7,000 or more because of the “CVT” and other transmission codes! Someone could possibly be paying this judge off…. Because this problem with Nissan are clearly a continuous shituation!

    1. Chris Posey says:

      Hello and AMEN!! I UNFORTUNATELY BOUGHT A 2005 MAXIMA AND HAD EXACTLY THIS SAME ISSUE! TOOK IT TO NISSAN OF RENO AND THEY FLEECED ME FOR ALMOST $4000. TO PUT ON NEW MOTOR MOUNTS!! OBVIOUSLY, THIS DIDN’T FIX THE PROBLEM DUE TO THEIR MISDIAGNOSIS!! THAT’S BACK IN 2014-15… WHAT CAN I DO FOR COMPENSATION? I SOLD IT TO A LOCAL USED DEALER FOR UNDER $2500… HELP!?

  3. Marcus Tomlin says:

    I have a 2011 maximum and the transmission went bad at 64,000 miles had to replace the transmission cost $4813. If there’s a class action lawsuit against this transmission please let me know

  4. ERICA AULDRIDGE says:

    I cannot believe this lawsuit was dismissed, especially for the 2005 models. I’m a single Mom of 3 and had a Maxima with faulty transmission and everything else. After exiting the highway and stopping at a light on the service road my car acted like it didn’t want to go then started to take off and jerked really hard. We were terrified, felt like someone hit us from behind. From then on my car had a mind of its own. It would work fine one minute then wouldn’t go over 20mph the next. I ended up having to let it go because of not being able to afford repairs and a car payment. Now I have an voluntary repo on my credit which is not good. These companies are making good money off of faulty cars and it’s sick. No evidence…pffft. I bet every 2004-2006 Maxima has had transmission issues.

    1. Martha says:

      Yes it is true. My 2006 Nissan Maxima has had a $4,000 trasmission repair.

    2. Chris Posey says:

      Hello !! Om my goodness! EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AND MY MAXIMA! A DEALER IN RENO, NV, RIPPED ME OUT OF ALMOST $4000 TO FIX THE FLIPPIN MOTORMOUNTS! OBVIOUSLY, THAT WASN’T THE FIX, AND IT STILL HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS! I SILD IT TO A LOCAL DEALER, GOT UNDER $2500. SAD! A $34000 CAR NETS $2400. NISSAN NEEDS TO REIMBURSE OWNERS AND PRIOR OWNERS!! I CERTAINLY CAN PROVIDE PROOF!!!!

    3. Chris Posey says:

      Hello! We need to chat! You and I have EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM!

  5. Barbara Fenwick Bealmear says:

    My 2006 Nissan Max just turned over 105000 miles. It is an automatic. The gears are beginning to slip. I had a max. prior and it went over 250000 miles and not a problem with the transmission. I won’t be buying another Nissan.

  6. Tamela S Bechtel says:

    My 2011 Nissan Maxima CVT transmission went out and I had to pay out 4200.00. The mechanic said that the CVT transmission is a throw away transmission because they hard to repair which means replacement. At the time they had 4 Nissan cars from 2011-2014 Altima, and Maximas with the CVT transmissions out. I think a new class action needs to be addressed for the 2011-2014 Maxima and Altima’s

    1. Charles says:

      I agree. Has a lawsuit been issued as my 2011 Nissan Maxima transmission just went at 78K miles?

    2. Chris Posey says:

      YESSS!!! LETS START ANOTHER ONE!! THAT CAR COST ME $4000. AT A RENO NISSAN DEALER, THEY PUT NEW MOTOR MOUNTS! OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS NOT THE PROBLEM!! I THINK NISSAN SHOULD REIMBURSE FORMER OWNERS AS WELL.

  7. wayne says:

    my 2011 altima experienced fail safe mode when traveling on the highway. the mechanic at nissan told me the cvt is a bad tranny. they wanted over 5 grand to replace it. def not worth it. getting rid of it asap. the already extended the warraty o some models but not the altima. nissan is ng. never by another one.

  8. Denise Arthur says:

    Well my 2006 Nissan maxima transmission went out not once twice. I’m just going to get rid of it. Can’t afford another transmission. Just had 2 cat converters put in too. What a waste of money

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