Law Center Search Results

The NAM filed an amicus brief opposing an overbroad class action lawsuit against an automotive manufacturer. A group of plaintiffs sued Honda, alleging that some of its vehicles are prone to transmission failure. A California trial court denied the plaintiffs class certification because the vast majority of them suffered no transmission problems whatsoever. An appeals court reversed, finding that the plaintiffs need only articulate a “theory of the case” to obtain class certification. If that standard is allowed to stand, manufacturers in California could be faced with massive and unwarranted potential liability in product defect lawsuits. In support of Honda’s request for the California Supreme Court to review the case, the NAM’s brief argued that courts should authorize class action lawsuits only when the plaintiffs suffer actual harm and that harm is shared by the other plaintiffs in the proposed class. The California Supreme Court denied the petition for review.