Flores v. Fca US LLC

Flores v. Fca US LLC

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS AMENDED COMPLAINT [#19]

I. INTRODUCTION

Presently before the Court is the Defendant FCA US LLC's Motion to Dismiss Amended Class Action Complaint, filed on November 27, 2019. Plaintiffs filed their Response in Opposition and Defendant filed a Reply. In the Reply brief, Defendant indicated that before this case was filed, it had been investigating the possibility of a defect with the engine cooling fans at issue herein and notified [*2]  all of its customers that such a defect may exist and offered to either replace the cooling fans free of charge or provide full reimbursement to those customers who had already paid for repairs. After a hearing on this matter, the Court ordered the parties to submit supplemental briefing on the issue of prudential mootness. Thereafter, the case was reassigned to the undersigned. See ECF No. 24.

Defendant filed its supplemental brief concerning mootness on November 27, 2019, and Plaintiffs filed their supplemental brief in opposition on February 12, 2020. Defendant filed a Reply in support of its Motion to Dismiss on February 25, 2020. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Amended Class Action Complaint.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are three individuals from different states who, at varying times between 2015 through 2016, purchased a new Jeep Renegade. Plaintiffs allege that each vehicle contains a defective radiator cooling fan that is at risk of overheating, causing incidents of smoking and fire in the engine. Plaintiffs assert that the radiator cooling fans in all model year 2015-2017 Jeep Renegade and Ram ProMaster City vehicles have [*3]  an "internal mechanism prone to premature failure, which prevents the engine from properly cooling." ECF No. 17, PageID.392.

Plaintiffs Marcus Flores, Adam Yates, and Edward Garcia allege they experienced wobbling and an irregular noise. Specifically, Plaintiff Flores became aware his fan was failing at about 39,000 miles, when it began to wobble and make irregular noises, then smoke emanated from the engine of his vehicle. Id. at PageID.397. Plaintiff Flores' dealership informed him there were no replacement parts available and the replacement was not covered by warranty, so he found one online for $214.50 from a different manufacturer, rather than wait and pay the $500.00 the dealership quoted. Id. at PageID.398.

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