Three drivers suing BMW for excessive engine oil leaks never proved their cars ailed from the alleged defect, the luxury automaker urging a Massachusetts federal judge to grant it a pretrial win in the product warranty case.
BWM of North America LLC said cars owned by John Schneider, Posnett Omonyi and Rainerio Reyes were never found to have suffered from excessive oil consumption due to defective valve stem seals, according to the expert it hired to diagnose the cars’ ailments.
BMW also argued that the owners waited too long to bring their claims since the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act gives the owners four years to bring the warranty claims for the vehicles they bought in 2010 and 2013.
Downshifting from its attacks on the faulty engine claims, BMW said it should be able to escape the lawsuit altogether because the departure of an original plaintiff in October reduced what’s at stake in the case below the federal consumer product warranty law’s $50,000 threshold
Five original drivers filed suit against BMW in 2018 after opting out of a nationwide class action in New Jersey, going after the company separately for claims stemming from allegedly excessive oil leaks in the company’s N63 engine.
In the nationwide class action, Bang v. BMW, the automaker agreed to reimburse drivers for certain out-of-pocket costs incurred for oil changes and to pay for future oil changes for the class of approximately 256,000 drivers who owned or leased 2009 to 2014 BMW 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X5 or X6 vehicles that contained the engine.
In the MA suit, the drivers’ claims were initially dismissed without prejudice in 2019, but an amended complaint filed in October was allowed to stand.
Law360: https://www.law360.com/articles/1408748/bmw-eyes-early-win-in-drivers-defective-engine-suit-