BSP Secures Dismissal of Economic-Loss Class Action at Pleadings Stage

On behalf of a major OEM, BSP attorneys Stephanie Douglas, Michael Williams, and Grant Newman secured the dismissal of a 5-count consumer-fraud class action.  The plaintiff—a used car purchaser—claimed that the manufacturer had deceived her and millions of consumers by selling vehicles that could not consistently run on E85 ethanol fuel.  The Court dismissed the plaintiff’s warranty claims because, by failing to notify the manufacturer of an alleged warranty breach before filing suit, she had deprived it “of the opportunity to cure the non-conformance, investigate the claim, or commence settlement negotiations prior to litigation.”  The fraud claim fell because the plaintiff pointed to no false or misleading representation—plaintiff’s “subjective misunderstanding of information that is not objectively false or misleading” is not fraud. Finally, the Court dismissed the Michigan Consumer Protection Act claim because that statute simply does not apply to “specifically authorized” transactions, like motor vehicle sales.