Los Angeles Team Secures Dismissal of BMW Class Action

Los Angeles, Calif. (March 18, 2021) - Los Angeles Partner and Co-Chair of Lewis Brisbois’ Class Action & Mass Tort and Consumer Warranty Practices Eric Y. Kizirian, along with Associate Zourik Zarifian, recently secured a significant victory on behalf of BMW when the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Lewis Brisbois’ motion for summary judgment in a consolidated class action filed by electric car buyers.

The plaintiffs in this matter alleged that buyers of 2014-2016 model year BMW i3 vehicles with the optional “Range Extender” or “REx” were misled and the cars were “defective” because the vehicles are designed to temporarily limit the vehicles’ power and speed if the REx is active and, as plaintiffs’ expert claimed, drivers “put themselves” in the position of driving up steep uphill grades on a highly depleted battery. As reported in the Law360 article titled “BMW Prevails In Class Action Over Electric Car Battery Life,” the court determined, however, that the purchasers of the cars failed to offer evidence establishing that the subject vehicles contained a design defect. In reaching this conclusion, the court explained that the plaintiffs’ expert never opined that the car’s design was defective, instead opining only that the vehicle “functioned the way that it was designed.” Accordingly, the court granted BMW’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the class action.

Last year, Messrs. Kizirian and Zarifian, along with Los Angeles Partner Michael Grimaldi, secured a favorable Ninth Circuit decision on jurisdictional standards that apply to Magnusson-Moss Act claims filed in putative class actions. That published decision was also reported by Law360.

Mr. Kizirian specializes in defending class actions and complex litigation across the United States. He has litigated class action issues in the United States Supreme Court, federal and state appellate courts, and various district and state courts across the country.

Mr. Zarifian is a member of Lewis Brisbois’ Class Action & Mass Tort Practice. He focuses his practice on complex litigation matters, including class action, mass torts, and products liability.

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