Judge Denies Class Cert. in Dollar Car Rental Lawsuit

A federal judge in California once again denied class certification to a proposed Class of drivers on Tuesday who filed a lawsuit against Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. The plaintiffs claimed that the car rental company duped them into buying add-on insurance for their rental vehicles that was unnecessary.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that the proposed group of Class Members was still too broadly defined and there is no lead plaintiff to adequately represent the Class.

Plaintiffs Melinda Basker, Chanh Tran and Sandra McKinnon defined one proposed Class to include all U.S. drivers who rented from Dollar at a location in California who had allegedly been charged for loss damage waivers when it was possibly unnecessary. They proposed a second Class of consumers who ordered rental vehicles from the Dollar website.

Judge Rogers stated that none of the three plaintiffs who brought the case fit the criteria they had proposed, so they wouldn’t qualify as lead plaintiffs for the respective Classes. She also stated that the Class was overly broad and likely unable to be proven anyway.

Basker was proposed as the class representative for the first Class and claimed that she denied the loss damage waiver coverage for her vehicle when she rented a car in San Diego but was charged for the coverage despite her denial. Judge Rogers said her claims were not typical of the Class and were not adequate to pursue on a classwide basis, stating that the allegations “differ substantially from those of putative class members.”

The second proposed Class included California residents who purchased a vehicle rental online through Dollar’s website who were charged for the loss damage waiver despite overlapping coverage on their personal auto insurance policies. Tran and McKinnon were proposed as class representatives for the second Class, but Judge Rogers said that neither plaintiff brought forth allegations that corresponded to the Classes they proposed to represent.

According to court documents, Tran did not purchase through Dollar’s website directly but rather purchased through the online travel company Expedia, so he was deemed as ineligible to represent the proposed Class. McKinnon claimed that she never actually made the reservation herself on Dollar, but that her “partner made the online reservation,” rendering her claim atypical and not representative of the Class, according to the judge’s order.

McKinnon initially filed the lawsuit in August 2012, alleging that Dollar systematically engaged in fraud while it tricked customers into purchasing additional collision damage waivers and insurance policies as part of the rental contract despite consumers having declined such coverage.

The lawsuit has had four amendments already and the after the first three, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti denied a motion for class certification, also finding that the proposed Class did not include common or typical members, and found that McKinnon was not able to adequately represent the proposed Class.

McKinnon’s fourth amendment added Basker and Tran as plaintiffs and alleged that Dollar sold loss damage waivers that may have duplicated the coverage that individuals’ auto insurance held. In addition, she alleged that Dollar’s sale of loss damage waivers were in violation of California rental car laws that require the company to disclose the specific details of the loss damage waiver orally, through the written contract and visually through signs that the additional coverage may duplicate what an individual has on his or her personal auto insurance policy.

Sign placement, oral disclosures and written contract initialing procedures vary from location to location, rendering it nearly impossible to have such issues addressed on a classwide basis, Judge Rogers said.

“Judge Conti reached the same finding, noting that ‘determining whether Dollar failed to provide the required signage is an individualized matter that would depend on the specific location visited and the date of that visit,’” Judge Rogers said.

Common evidence was likely to be found in some of the claims, Judge Rogers conceded, however, the plaintiffs would need to narrow the proposed Class in order for the common evidence supplied. As a result, she granted the plaintiffs leave to amend.

The drivers are represented by Alan M. Mansfield, Joe R. Whatley Jr. and Patrick Sheehan of Whatley Kallas LLP.

The Dollar Car Rental Insurance Class Action Lawsuit is McKinnon v. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., Case No.4:12-cv-04457, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE February 23, 2017: Plaintiffs have settled claims in the Dollar Thrifty lawsuit and agreed to drop the suit.