Walmart Class Action Lawsuit: Company Fails to Register Customers For Tire Recalls

A recent tire recall class action lawsuit claims that Walmart fails to properly inform customers when their tires are recalled by manufacturers.

Plaintiff Fletcher Dozier Jr. argues that he and other consumers could not have been informed of a tire recall affecting their purchased tires because Walmart fails to properly register their consumers.

As a result, if their tires are recalled by a manufacturer, they are unable to learn of the issue as required by federal law.

Dozier says he ordered four Milestar tires from Walmart in June 2017, paying nearly $300 for the set. He later paid an additional $95 to have his tires mounted and balanced at his local Walmart tire store.

Although Dozier purchased the tires directly from Walmart’s website, he was allegedly not given a tire registration form with the retailer’s information filled out either in paper or electronic form.

As a result, Dozier was allegedly unable to complete the form and submit it to the tire manufacturer – thus denying him the ability to register for future tire recall news related to his tires.

Walmart’s lack of tire registration has reportedly resulted in a 2011 complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The complaint said that the retailer failed to hand out tire registration cards, which could be proven by video records of the tires sales counter.

The complainant may have been an employee of Walmart, according to Dozier, based on statements that they had “tried to handle it to the best of my ability and the store is refusing to start handing [registration cards] out.” The complaint added that tire purchasers could be hurt by the practice, with the complainant stating that “[i]n my mind, this is a huge safety issue and people[’]s lives could be at stake.”

The tire recall class action lawsuit notes that the lack of information about recalled tires could result in consumer injuries or even death. Tires are put through thorough testing to ensure that they can maintain the required friction of acceleration, braking, and turning – even amidst inclement weather such as snow or rain.

A defective tire could result in serious crashes which can injure or kill both drivers and passengers, in addition to putting drivers and passengers in other vehicles at risk of collisions, Dozier argues.

By failing to help consumers register their tires with manufacturers, Walmart allegedly places their customers at risk of unknowingly driving on defective and dangerous tires.

Dozier argues that Walmart’s failure to register consumers for tire recall news violates the federal Tire-Registration Law.

This law reportedly requires tire manufacturers to promptly inform drivers of any tire recall. According to the plaintiff, Walmart plays a “critical role” in this law as an independent tire dealer.

“It is Walmart’s duty to take the steps necessary to transmit or enable the transmission of Class Members’ TIN and buyers’ contact information to the tire manufacturer(s) so that the tire manufacturers can complete their duty to promptly notify Class Members of safety recalls – which they cannot do without the Independent Tire Dealer’s compliance,” the Walmart tire recall class action argues.

The tire recall class action also alleges that Walmart made money from its failure to comply with federal law.

Not only did the retailer avoid the cost of a complaint registration program, Dozier argues that Walmart was able to sell more tires in the time it would have taken to register its consumers with such a program.

“Walmart was unjustly enriched by both the registration costs it avoided and the extra sales it made when it was not registering tires,” Dozier argues in his tire recall class action lawsuit.

Dozier seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased tires from Walmart within the last four years. He also seeks to represent several subclasses of the same consumers and California residents who are covered by various consumer protection laws.

According to the tire recall class action lawsuit, millions of consumers who have purchased tires from Walmart could be members of the Class.

Did you purchase tires from Walmart that were later recalled? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

Dozier and the proposed Class are represented by Jeffery L. Fazio and Dina E. Micheletti of Fazio Micheletti LLP; Robert K. Shelquist, Eric N. Linsk, and Rebecca A. Peterson of Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP; Charles J. LaDuca, Brendan S. Thompson and Yifei Li of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP; Jon Borderud of the Law Office of Jon Borderud; Christopher C. Kessler of The Kessler Law Firm PLLC; and J. Olin McDougall II of McDougall Law Firm LLC.

The Walmart Tire Recall Class Action Lawsuit is Fletcher Dozier Jr. v. Walmart Inc., Case No. 2:20-cv-05286, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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