Mercedes HVAC Defect Class Action Lawsuit Survives Dismissal Bid

UPDATE 4: On Dec. 26, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving settlement checks from the Mercedes HVAC class action settlement worth as much as $300. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!

UPDATE 3: January 2020, the Mercedes HVAC class action settlement website is live. Click here for more information. 

UPDATE 2: On Dec. 20, 2019, a settlement agreement was reached that will resolve three Mercedes class action lawsuits alleging the heating, venting, and air conditioning system in 2.5 million vehicles is prone to smelling moldy.

UPDATE: On Dec. 18, 2018, a Georgia federal judge denied Mercedes-Benz’s motion to dismiss a class action which alleged that the vehicles’ air systems smell moldy.

On Monday, a California federal judge rejected a motion by Mercedes-Benz USA LLC and Daimler AG to dismiss a class action lawsuit accusing the company of selling vehicles with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system defects that result in the emission of noxious odors allegedly caused by mold and mildew accumulation.

Mercedes-Benz filed a motion to dismiss an amended HVAC defect class action lawsuit filed by plaintiff Manan Bhatt, challenging the addition of Mary Blasco as a new plaintiff and Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler AG as a defendant.

The amended Mercedes class action lawsuit also added additional warranty claims and expanded the proposed Class to include 62 additional vehicle models, the automaker said.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. denied to dismiss the Mercedes HVAC class action lawsuit, finding that judges generally grant plaintiffs leave to amend their complaints, and amendments are typically allowed unless they cause undue prejudice to the opposing party.

“Because the court will set the discovery cut-off date at the final pretrial conference, which has not yet been scheduled, any additionally required discovery would not be unduly prejudicial,” Judge Hatter wrote in the order.

Judge Hatter dismissed a common law implied warranty claim from the Mercedes class action lawsuit but allowed claims under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, California common law express warranty and the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act to proceed.

The judge noted, “the added Song-Beverly and California common law express warranty claims arose from the same operative facts as the previously alleged Magnuson-Moss express warranty claim.”

The Mercedes HVAC class action lawsuit alleges certain Mercedes vehicles have an HVAC system defect that causes the accumulation of mold and mildew. As a result, a noxious odor is emitted into the vehicle cabin when the HVAC system is turned on.

Bhatt and Blasco claim that Mercedes is aware of the alleged HVAC defect, yet continued to market and sell the affected vehicles. When owners of vehicles with the alleged Mercedes HVAC defect complained to the automaker, Mercedes recommended the replacement of the cabin air filter or “flushing the system,” but neither of these attempted fixes addressed the underlying defect involving the HVAC system design and therefore only provided temporary relief.

A similar Mercedes HVAC defect class action lawsuit is currently pending in Georgia federal court. In that case, plaintiffs Sunil Amin and Trushar Patel claim Mercedes has failed to offer an adequate remedy for the Mercedes HVAC defect. Last month, a Georgia federal judge dismissed some claims from the HVAC defect class action lawsuit but allowed the case to move forward.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jonathan D. Selbin, Annika K. Martin and Abbye R. Klamann of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and by Ketan A. Patel of Corpus Law Patel LLC.

The Mercedes Moldy HVAC Class Action Lawsuits are Manan Bhatt, et al. v. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, Case No. 2:16-cv-03171, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Sunil Amin, et al. v. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-01701, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.