Fiat Chrysler Wants Class Cert. Rejected Over Flawed Expert in EcoDiesel MDL

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Fiat Chrysler asked a federal judge to reject consumers’ bid for Class certification in an EcoDiesel multidistrict litigation, because the company says the consumers’ expert is unreliable.

In the EcoDiesel multidistrict litigation, the plaintiffs claim that Fiat Chrysler installed devices in some Jeep and Ram diesel vehicles that would enable the vehicles to perform well in emissions-regulations tests but produce much higher levels of emissions when driven normally.

Last week, Fiat Chrysler argued that the consumers’ expert, marketing professor Venkatesh Shankar, was unreliable.

Shankar reportedly said that consumers had been duped into purchasing the 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Rams because they relied on “fraudulent” advertisements from the company that the vehicles would be environmentally friendly.

Fiat Chrysler attacked Shankar’s research methodology, saying that it was “fundamentally flawed and unreliable, and therefore not even admissible — let alone sufficient to carry plaintiff’s burden of proof.”

The company went on argue that the consumers are trying to avoid necessary inquiries into individual Class Members’ reliance on the company’s advertising in making their purchasing decision. Fiat Chrysler argues that Shankar assumed that consumers relied on the advertising but did not successfully prove it.

The company supported this claim by saying that “Dr. Shankar admitted at his deposition that he did not even ‘look at’ the issue of materiality and did not analysis to show what proportion of the class was exposed to advertising for the EcoDiesel vehicles.”

“Furthermore, nothing in Dr. Shankhar’s declaration proves any coherent, uniform meaning that putative class members ascribed to the EcoDiesel badges — meaning that materiality is ‘not susceptible to common proof.’”

On these grounds, the company asked that a California federal judge reject the consumers’ bid for Class certification.

According to the company, the consumers and their experts had to prove that the company misrepresented its vehicles to consumers in a uniform way.

Fiat Chrysler said that “without the benefit of a presumption of a classified reliance, class certification is inappropriate because individual issues will predominate” in attempting to understand how allegedly affected drivers were misled or injured in their purchases of the vehicles.

The company went on to say that they felt that the consumers had not even shown that the advertisements they claim impacted consumers’ buying choices were even aired in such a widespread way or for a sufficient length of time to have the impact that the consumers claim they had.

In further attack to the consumers’ proposed Class certification, Fiat Chrysler argued that the consumers did not have enough in common — some consumers owned the vehicles in question while others leased them.

Allegedly, some people had already sold the vehicles, and the company said that those consumers had already received compensation from their vehicle.

This isn’t the first time that Fiat Chrysler has attempted to have the claims dismissed.

The consumers are represented by Elizabeth J. Cabraser, David S. Stellings, Kevin R. Budner, Phong-Chau G. Nguyen and Wilson M. Dunlavey of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and steering committee members Roland K. Tellis of Baron & Budd PC, W. Daniel Miles III of Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles PC, Lesley E. Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP and Stacy P. Slaughter of Robins Kaplan LLP, among others.

The Fiat Chrysler EcoDiesel Emissions Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep EcoDiesel Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:17-md-02777, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 10, 2019, Fiat Chrysler will pay up to a total of $884 million to end allegations that the company installed software in some of its diesel vehicles that enabled the vehicles to perform at legal emissions standards during testing and then produce much more pollution than is legally allowed when the vehicles are driven normally.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 23, 2019, a federal judge recently revealed that he’s “very much inclined” to grant preliminary approval to a $307 million Fiat Chrysler emissions settlement.

UPDATE 3: March 2019, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ram 1500 EcoDiesel class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.