CAMDEN, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit against FedEx and others alleging odometer fraud.
Judge Karen Williams granted the defendants' motion to dismiss in a one-page order March 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. She gave plaintiff lawyers until April 29 to file an amended complaint.
FedEx, Automotive Rentals, Holman Automotive Group and Holman Fleet Leasing filed their motion to dismiss Aug. 11 in a case brought by five plaintiffs two months earlier.
The plaintiffs purchased used FedEx vehicles with the hopes of converting them into food trucks, but they do not live where the case was filed, the defendants pointed out.
"Plaintiffs do not allege their vehicle transactions occurred in New Jersey or that the vehicles they purchased were in New Jersey at the time of sale," the motion says. "Nor do Plaintiffs allege that they engaged in any transactions directly with (the defendants) in connection with the purchase of their vehicles, or that Plaintiffs received or relied on alleged misrepresentations in New Jersey."
The plaintiffs claim that as part of an agreement between FedEx and Holman, FedEx would transfer its used vehicles to Holman, with Holman then selling them at auction.
The plaintiffs further claim that the defendants "systematically and surreptitiously" replaced odometers on thousands of used diesel fleet delivery trucks to show zero miles when the trucks had been driven "hundreds of thousands of miles."
The plaintiffs allege shortly after purchasing the trucks, the vehicles began to experience "performance and maintenance issues." They claim the defendants knowingly committed odometer fraud and sold vehicles, some with more than 75,000 miles, at a premium though they were past their "useful life expectancy."
The defendants argued pursuit of a class action is impossible, given the individualized issues of fact with each alleged transaction. Their other claims for dismissal are:
-The nationwide New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act claim is unsupported because New Jersey does not have the "most significant relationship" to the consumer fraud claims;
-The nationwide unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy claims fail because the state laws of each prospective class member aren't specified;
-There is no basis in law for various claims for equitable relief and punitive damages;
-The "group pleading" strategy for ARI, HAGI and HFL - referred to as "Holman" by the plaintiffs, - fails to put those companies on notice as to their alleged conduct; and
-HFL should be dismissed because it did not exist until years after the plaintiffs bought the FedEx trucks.