Certification of Volvo Leaky Sunroof Class Action Lawsuit Holds Water, Judge Says

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Certification of Volvo Leaky Sunroof Class Action Lawsuit Holds Water, Judge SaysBy Anne Bucher
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday refused to reconsider his decision to certify six classes of consumers who allege Volvo Car Corp. sold vehicles with leaky sunroofs, rejecting Volvo’s assertion that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision should put an end to the class action lawsuit.

On October 16, U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh denied the car manufacturer’s motion for reconsideration, which was based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend. “Because this case is distinguishable from Comcast, this court finds no reason to reconsider its opinion,” Judge Cavanaugh wrote.

The Volvo leaky sunroof class action lawsuit was initially filed in 2010 by Volvo buyers in six states.

They accused the Swedish car manufacturer of selling vehicles with defective sunroof drainage systems. Due to the defect, the plaintiffs allege that the sunroof drain system is easily clogged, allowing water to enter the passenger compartment, causing the floor mats to become “soaking wet.” The plaintiffs alleged that Volvo “had longstanding knowledge of a material design defect” in the vehicles’ sunroofs, which they claim starts to manifest shortly after the limited warranty period expires. They also allege that Volvo issued several technical service bulletins in an effort to address the problem.

Judge Cavanaugh initially certified the Class in March. However, he declined to certify a nationwide class under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act because it would exclude some state-related claims from the class action lawsuit. One day after the judge certified the Class, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a lower court should have more closely scrutinized the plaintiffs’ damages model before certifying a class of consumers who accused Comcast of monopolizing the Philadelphia cable market.

After this decision was handed down, Volvo asked Judge Cavanaugh to reconsider his decision to certify the Volvo sunroof class action lawsuit, arguing that he had failed to take a look at their damages argument much like the lower court judge in the Comcast case. However, Judge Cavanaugh found that the two class action lawsuits are “entirely distinguishable” because Comcast’s damages model was complex and based on a hypothetical situation whereas the damages argument in the sunroof defect class action lawsuit is “much more straightforward.”

“Defendants cannot reasonably point to Comcast and argue that because the Supreme Court rejected a flawed hypothetical damages model in that case, certification in this case was improper,” the judge said.

Further, the plaintiffs in the Comcast case relied on a single expert to establish damages. The Supreme Court found fault in that expert’s methodology. In the sunroof defect class action lawsuit, however, Judge Cavanaugh had already rejected Volvo’s attempt to preclude the plaintiff’s damages expert because their argument regarding damages did not rely exclusively on the expert’s opinion.

Class Members include all current and former owners or lessees of a 2000-2012 model year Volvo S40, S60, S70, S80, V50, V70 or XC90 vehicle in California, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The plaintiffs are represented by Chimicles & Tikellis LLP and Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC.

The Volvo Sunroof Leak Class Action Lawsuit case is Joanne Neale, et al. v. Volvo Cars of North America LLC, et al., Case No. 2:10-cv-04407, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

UPDATE: On Sept. 28, 2018, plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging certain Volvos have defective sunroofs urged a federal judge to certify their proposed Class in a new motion.

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