Fiat Chrysler Settlement Approved
Last month, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of the $300 million settlement reached by the parties in the Chrysler Dodge-Jeep Ecodiesel® Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation.
David S. Casey, Jr. was appointed by the federal court to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee tasked with leading the litigation on behalf of the vehicle owners across the nation.
The litigation against Fiat Chrysler, Robert Bosch GmbH and other related entities arose out of plaintiffs’ allegations that approximately 100,000 model year 2014-2016 Ecodiesel® Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks utilized defeat devices to allow the vehicles to perform better and more efficiently on emissions tests than in real-world driving. Although the vehicles at issue were sold as equipped with environmentally friendly “clean diesel” engines, they allegedly emitted up to 20 times the legal limit of certain pollutants.
Lawsuits Filed Around the Country
In January 2017, the EPA and the California Air Resources Board issued notices of violation to various entities for failure to justify or disclose the defeat devices in the subject vehicles. The civil litigation was centralized in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs claimed that they were promised environmentally friendly vehicles with superior fuel economy and other performance characteristics, but did not receive cars and trucks that complied with these characteristics.
CaseyGerry’s complex litigation team is proud to have assisted in the successful resolution of this case. “It has been an honor to work with such a respected team of attorneys to seek a fair and reasonable resolution for consumers around the country,” said David S. Casey, Jr., who worked on the case with CaseyGerry attorneys Camille Guerra and partner Gayle M. Blatt, head of the firm’s complex litigation team.
The recently approved settlement provides for a payment of approximately $3,000 for vehicle owners - a fix resulting in the vehicles conforming to their represented environmental qualities – as well as an extended warranty covering up to the first of 10 years or 120,000 miles and four years or 48,000 miles from the date and mileage of installing the emissions modifications.
For more information, or to make a claim, click here to go to the settlement website.
