MIAMI – A Florida federal judge has granted Ford Motor Co.'s motion for suggestion of remand to move a lawsuit regarding Takata airbags back to a Massachusetts federal court.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will now make the decision on whether or not it will allow the case to be remanded to Massachusetts federal court, according to the March 3 order.
U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno of the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division wrote that the bulk of discovery in the case was specific to both the plaintiff and defendant Ford Motor Co. and that because discovery was case-specific, a remand would be appropriate.
"This discovery is case specific," Moreno wrote. "It has no relation to the common liability discovery into Ford that was completed earlier in the MDL proceeding; it also has no relation to the discovery currently ongoing into several other automotive manufacturers named in the consolidated class action complaints."
The court agreed with the plaintiffs to consolidate pretrial proceedings for convenience, but since the case is so case-specific, the court believes that the group actions won't benefit from being a part of the multidistrict litigation involving Takata.
Nearly 20 plaintiffs filed the class-action lawsuit against Takata, Highland Industries, Honda, BMW, Ford and Toyota in 2014 alleging multiple vehicles built in the early 2000s had defective Takata airbags that either violently exploded on impact or would expel metal debris and shrapnel when the airbag deployed.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants failed to act quickly enough when recalling the vehicles that had defective airbags, causing car owners who would've otherwise lived, to die during car accidents or those who lived sustained serious injuries due to the airbags.
The plaintiffs are seeking for the airbags to be declared defective and for the defendants to stop deceptive distribution, sales and lease practices involving the vehicles and compensatory, exemplary and statutory penalties. They are represented by Peter Prieto, John Gravante III and Matthew Weinshall of Podhurst Orseck in Miami; and Lawrence A. Sucharow, Christopher J. Keller, Martis Alex, Eric J. Belfi, Michael W. Stocker and Gregory S. Asciolla of Labaton Sucharow in New York, New York.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida case number 1:19-cv-24237