Fiat Chrysler Can’t Escape Faulty Gearshift Class Action Lawsuit

A federal judge has allowed a Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit included in a multidistrict litigation accusing the carmaker of selling vehicles with defecting gearshifts to move forward.

The defendants in the Fiat gearshift class action lawsuit tried to have the case dismissed by claiming that the plaintiff lodged her lawsuit too late. However, U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson disagreed with FCA’s arguments.

In the Fiat gearshift class action lawsuit, the defendants are accused of manufacturing and selling a defective part which allowed a parked car to roll over a woman’s leg, causing severe injuries.

The Michigan federal judge in the FCA gearshift class action lawsuit says that the plaintiff was diligent in her efforts to determine what caused the accident.

The plaintiff did not discover the defect connected to the accident and injury until after the product liability statute of limitations had expired.

Therefore, according to the judge in the Fiat gearshift class action lawsuit, the plaintiff’s case will stand.

The defendants argued that the plaintiff had some clue about why the car began rolling on the day of the accident, but the judge responded that this alone wasn’t enough to block the case on the grounds of an exceeded statute of limitations.

The judge presiding over the Fiat gearshift class action lawsuit says that while the plaintiff or another reasonable person could have made the connection between a possible gearshift issue and the rolling car, such a hunch would not be enough for a consumer to initiate a lawsuit on those grounds alone.

The case is further complicated by the fact that the plaintiff claims that she relied on false statements and representations made by the defendant involving safety and rollaway issues.

According to the plaintiff, Dedra Maneotis, the defendants had no knowledge of these safety concerns or rollaway issues.

The plaintiff contends that she contacted the automobile manufacturer about her suspicions shortly after the accident, but she was told that the rollaway problem was a “user issue” and not associated with a defect.

Maneotis says that this added unnecessary time and confusion for her decision to file a lawsuit against the carmaker since she had to carry out her own investigation of what caused the car to roll.

The judge also found that the plaintiff’s argument about a three-year statute of limitations linked to property damage or bodily injury from use of a motor vehicle did not apply to the case in question.

According to the judge in the Fiat gearshift class action lawsuit, the alleged failure to warn consumers about the defect was not connected with the operation or use of the vehicle itself.

The plaintiff was initially injured when her Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled over her leg after she put the vehicle in park and exited it. She initiated the lawsuit in 2016.

Maneotis is represented by Robert B. Carey of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and E. Powell Miller of The Miller Law Firm.

The Fiat Gearshift Class Action Lawsuit is Dedra Maneotis v. Fiat Chrysler US LLC, Case No. 2:16-md-02744, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.