 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Nissan Motor Company v. Fry8/17/2000
On appeal from the 138th District Court of Cameron County, Texas.
OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
Opinion by Justice Hinojosa
We issued our original opinion in this case on May 25, 2000. Appellant, Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. d/b/a Nissan Motor Corporation in USA, subsequently filed a motion for rehearing, urging us to reconsider our opinion in light of recent cases from the Texas Supreme Court. We grant Nissan's motion for rehearing, withdraw our opinion of May 25, 2000, and substitute the following as the opinion of this Court.
This is an interlocutory appeal from an order granting class certification. Nissan contends the trial court erred in certifying the class. We remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
1. Background
Appellees sued Nissan for economic damages arising out of alleged defects in certain two-point motorized safety belt systems installed in Nissan vehicles, and requested class certification. Appellees allege the seat belt system is unfit for the ordinary purpose for which it is intended, is defective and inadequate, and violates the implied warranty of merchantability. Specifically, they allege the system is unreasonably dangerous and defective because it lacks adequate warnings that the separate manual lap belt must be used to avoid injury in an accident. Appellees claim that unless the lap belt is properly engaged, the system (1) will not perform its intended function of protecting passengers from injury in a collision and (2) can itself cause serious injury to the passenger it is supposed to protect. Appellees further claim that the snugness of the automatic shoulder portion of the seat belt system creates an express warranty that the user is safely restrained without manually engaging the lap belt portion, leading to a sense of false security, and that the accompanying warnings and instructions are inadequate to overcome this problem.
Appellees pleaded various causes of action against Nissan, including:
(1) breach of the implied warranty of merchantability; and
(2) violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices - Consumer Protection Act ("DTPA"), and Tex. Bus. & Comm. Code Ann. ยงยง 17.01, 17.46, 17.50 (Vernon 1987):
(a) breach of express warranties pursuant to section 17.50(a) of the DTPA;
(b) breach of implied warranties pursuant to section 17.50(a) of the DTPA;
(c) by using false, misleading and deceptive acts or practices as defined in Sections 17.50 and 17.46 of the DTPA in the following ways:
(i) in causing confusion of or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval or certification of goods or services in violation of section 17.46(b)(2) of the DTPA;
(ii) in representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or qualities which they do not have, in violation of section 17.46(b)(5) of the DTPA;
(iii) in representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another, in violation of section 17.46(b)(12) of the DTPA; and
(iv) in representing that a guarantee or warranty can involve rights, or remedies, which it does not have or involve, in violation of section 17.46(b)(19) of the DTPA.
Appellees seek monetary compensation for all actual, special, and consequential damages and pecuniary losses including, but not limited to, the cost to repair each vehicle and/or replace the defective part, the cost of alternative transportation during
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Texas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|