Wal-Mart Car Battery Class Action Lawsuit Survives on Appeal

A California woman can continue a Wal-Mart car battery class action lawsuit after successfully appealing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to the original complaint, June Johnson purchased a car battery in 2010 from a Wal-Mart store in Ridgecrest, Calif. The clerk added a $7 dollar fee for recycling the battery, and Johnson saw a sign that noted that fees are required in numerous states, but the fee could be avoided by bringing in the used battery. However, her class action lawsuit attorney notes that California “does not require that the (fee) be charged … (but Wal-Mart) falsely represented” that the fee was required under state law.

In Dec. 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Manuel L. Real dismissed the class action lawsuit, finding Johnson had not adequately pled that she had been injured because she admitted that she had been aware of the $9 fee when she purchased her battery.

However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel noted several issues with the decision of Judge Real. First, the panel decided that Johnson had adequately pleaded misrepresentation because she noted the sign, the location, the law regarding the fee and so forth. As a result, her “allegations make it unequivocally clear to Wal-Mart what it must defend.”

The fact that Johnson and her class action lawsuit attorney alleged a specific injury of the economic loss of $9 also provided the appeals court with reason to uphold the class action lawsuit based on a sufficient injury of fact. The panel found that it would also be reasonable to infer that Johnson would not have paid more for the car battery had she known that the fee was not required. Finally, the decision to reverse noted that the original judge had evaluated the merits of her claim in writing that the sign was accurate and Johnson did not educate herself on the costs or lack thereof.

Such writing, the 9th Circuit decided, was an evaluation of the merits rather than determining whether or not her allegations were feasible.

The class action lawsuit charged Wal-Mart with violations of state Consumer Legal Remedies act, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, negligence and fraud by concealment.

Johnson is represented by Mike Arias, Arnold C. Wang and Alfredo Torrijos of Arias Ozzello & Gignac LLP.

The Wal-Mart Car Battery Class Action Lawsuit is June Johnson v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., et al., Case No. 12-cv-55233, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.