Cadillac Safety Rating Sticker Class Action Lawsuit Continues

General Motors LLC’s motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging it used stickers that falsely implied that some of its Cadillac vehicles received the highest safety ratings was denied by a Florida federal judge last week.

Lead plaintiffs Geri Siano Carriuolo and Peter Bracchi alleged that GM of used stickers that indicated high safety ratings according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on its Cadillac CTS sedans. The plaintiffs accused GM of false advertising and violations of trade laws and consumer protection laws in Florida and Tennessee and of being unjustly enriched.

GM had filed a motion to dismiss the Cadillac class action lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiffs had not established that they were injured by GM’s alleged use of the stickers or that the stickers played a material part in their decision to purchase the Cadillac. U.S. District Court Judge James I. Cohn rejected GM’s motion in an order issued last week.

“[T]he court has little difficulty concluding that plaintiffs have satisfied their burden to plead the required material misrepresentations and substantial injury,” the judge wrote. “Moreover,” he continued, “it seems reasonable that representations concerning the safety rating that a government agency assigned to a vehicle are material and that overstating this vehicle’s safety ratings substantially harms the vehicle’s purchaser.”

Judge Cohn also ruled that the plaintiffs’ claims for unjust enrichment could stand because, although the plaintiffs purchased their vehicles from dealerships and not directly from GM, GM still benefited from the purchases. “It is of no matter that the benefit passed through independent dealerships,” wrote the judge.

Judge Cohn rejected GM’s argument that the plaintiffs must exhaust every remedy against the dealerships. He pointed out that the plaintiffs did not need to make any claims against the dealerships. “Plaintiffs’ suit is premised entirely upon the inaccurate Monroney stickers that defendant generated and shipped to the dealerships,” the judge said. “These stickers appear to be defendant’s responsibility.”

In an amended class action lawsuit filed in August, the plaintiffs claimed that they had purchased 2014 models of GM’s Cadillac CTS sedans and the sedans had “Monroney” stickers that implied the sedans had high safety ratings. However, according to the plaintiffs, several months later they received a letter from GM explaining that the stickers were wrong and their sedans did not have five star safety ratings. According to the GM class action lawsuit, the proposed Class includes Florida consumers and similarly situated Tennessee consumers who purchased a Cadillac CTS Sedan with the allegedly incorrect Monroney sticker.

Carriuolo and Bracchi are represented by Donald R. Fountain Jr. of Clark Fountain La Vista Prather Keen & Littky-Rubin LLP and Jeffrey M. Liggio of Liggio Benrubi PA.

The Cadillac False Safety Rating Sticker Class Action Lawsuit is Carriuolo, et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 0:14-cv-61429, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.