— A Chevy shake lawsuit is over after GM successfully argued the plaintiff lacked standing to bring nationwide class action lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff purchased a new 2015 Chevrolet Silverado, but it was allegedly equipped with a defective aluminum driveshaft that causes sudden violent shaking at certain highway speeds.
The aluminum driveshaft is a long tube that runs the length of the interior and transmits torque from the engine to the wheels.
GM drivers report feeling like the vehicles are going out of control from the violent shaking. Then the driveshafts allegedly wear out and fall to the ground, leaving the vehicles unusable.
According to the Chevy shake lawsuit, defective driveshafts were installed in these GM models.
- 2015 to present Cadillac Escalade
- 2014 to present Chevrolet Silverado
- 2015 to present Chevrolet Suburban
- 2015 to present Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2014 to present GMC Sierra
- 2015 to present GMC Yukon/Yukon XL
The plaintiff alleges GM knew about the so-called Chevy shake through internal testing, complaints filed by owners and media reports about the condition.
According to the lawsuit, consumer complaints filed with federal safety regulators are delivered to GM and reviewed by GM’s engineers. But when customers reported the Chevy shake symptoms, technicians allegedly would admit there were problems, then "later misrepresent the problem to avoid having to address it."
The Chevy shake lawsuit also alleges customers sometimes replace the aluminum driveshafts which fixes the shaking problem. In addition, General Motors allegedly issued technical service bulletins (TSBs) which "admitted that drive shafts could be a source of the problem and further admitted that there have been many cases of dented propeller shafts."
Even replacing the driveshafts allegedly does no good because the automaker uses the same aluminum driveshafts.
In dismissing the nationwide claims, the judge ruled the plaintiff lacked standing because he didn't claim a legal injury in any state other than Florida.
However, the judge did allow the Florida class action to continue based on breach of express warranties, breach of implied warranties and violation of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
After the nationwide class action lawsuit was trimmed to a Florida case, the parties reached an agreement to mediate the Florida claims on an individual basis. This left the plaintiff and General Motors to settle their arguments and caused Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr., to dismiss the Chevy shake lawsuit.
The Chevy shake lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami - Weiss, et al., v. General Motors LLC.
The plaintiff is represented by Cory Watson, and Migliaccio & Rathod.
