Major General Motors Class Action Lawsuit to Settle
by rreeves ~ March 27th, 2008
General Motors is bracing itself for a 49 state class action lawsuit that’s expected to be worth anywhere from $80 million to $150 million for car owners.
In the case of plaintiff’s attorneys, the settlements could be worth up to $16.5 million.
According to Eric Gibbs, a class action attorney in San Francisco, he was part of a group of plaintiff attorneys who were preparing to go to trial late last year in the state of Missouri against GM, when the company decided they would agree to a nationwide group of consumer suits.
At least 20 million plaintiffs were expected to be involved in the settlement. Most people here are supposed to have made repairs that fell between $600 and $900.
The class action lawsuit has its beginnings in the lawsuit field by California and Missouri lawyers against GM claiming that the coolant that the automaker used in its vehicles was causing performance problems. The suits claimed violation of unfair business practices statutes and breach of warranty. All the cases claimed that the defective product was Dex-Cool, a coolant that GM began to use in 1995 model cars.
It wasn’t easy getting class certification of the lawsuits. The process was set off four years ago when an Alameda County Superior Court judge denied a class action settlement motion. In 2006, the plaintiffs again filed a motion to seek California class liability. That too was denied, but the judge said the plaintiffs could bring the motion again if they managed to find more evidence. This time plaintiffs came forward with stronger evidence including testimony from four expert witnesses. Class certification was granted.
The settlement does not cap the total amount to be paid by GM. Limits, however, have been set in other areas. There is a litigation expenses cap of $1.55 million, and court approved an attorney fee cap of $16.5 million. Plaintiff’s incentives will cap at about $140,000.
Other firms that worked on the case include Ram & Olson; Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll of Washington, D.C.; San Francisco’s Levy, and Kansas City’s Stueve Siegel Hanson.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I am now a victim of this stuff myself, I just took my car to be repaired and it is going to cost me over $800.00 dollars to repair the damage done to my vehicle. I have a 2003 Chevy Venture Mini van
April 27th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I had my intake manifold gasket replaced in 2001 to the tune of about $1200 for my 2000 Venture (less that 5,000 miles out of warranty). The repair person (dealer) told me he’d see me again because they were having alot of problems. I contacted GM, and they said there was nothing they could do. I’ve been waiting for this suit.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I have had the intake manifold gasket replaced three times on my 2000 Chevy Malibu
June 5th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
i have a 04 duramax with bad injectors, at first gm said it was covered under a special warrente then they took it all back, said that they could not help me. the new injectors will cost me around 7000.00 to replace. could any one tell me about any class actions concerning the duramax. im sure people are going to get tired of the run-around that gm gives people.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I already had the gasket replaced 3 years ago on my 2002 Malibu and now the intake manifold gasket is shot again and needs to be replaced. I can’t count the number of brake pads we have had to replace on this car and rotors, because you don’t know there is a problem until they suddenly just go down. By that time the rotors are warped. The check engine light will come on all the time, sometimes it’s a sensor, valve or undetermined reason. Fix it, drive it 200 miles, light is back on. Over and Over Again. I am growing tired of Chevy.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I have a 1996 GMC Jimmy that required new upper and lower intake manifold gaskets in July of 2004. The bill was ~$640. Not to mention the Jimmy being layed up in the garage for 5 days!
June 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I have my 2003 Malibu in for this right now. The bill was going to be 1200,but after a lot of yelling, The dealer got it down to 590. We had this repair done to our 2001 Malibu about 2 years ago. I will never buy another Chevy as long as I live. I can’t even count the number of brakes we have gone thru. I’m glad someone finally got some satisfaction out of GM.