Class claim follows $1.67B settlement over emissions tests

The companies that make and sell RAM trucks cheated on emissions tests and sold vehicles with defects that caused excess nitrogen oxide emissions, consumers claimed in a proposed class action.

In a complaint filed Wednesday, plaintiffs said they were filing suit after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Dec. 21 that the Justice Department reached an agreement with FCA US LLC and Cummins Inc. to settle, for $1.675 billion, claims that the companies installed “defeat devices’’ on almost 1 million RAM 2500 and 3500 diesel pickup trucks to bypass emissions tests for a decade. According to the attorney general’s office, this is the largest civil penalty secured under the Clean Air Act and the second largest environmental penalty secured.

The proposed class of consumers, represented by Baron & Budd PC, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Carella Byrne Cecchi Brody & Agnello PC, Seeger Weiss LLP, The Miller Law Firm PC and Motley Rice LLP, also claimed the companies had to recall hundreds of thousands of trucks because of excess nitrogen oxide emissions.

FCA and Cummins did not respond to requests for comment. Biederman et al. v. FCA US LLC et al., 23-cv-06640, (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 27, 2023).

Following the announcement from Garland’s office, Cummins spokesman Jon Mills said in a statement: “The company has seen no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith and does not admit wrongdoing. The company has cooperated fully with the relevant regulators, already addressed many of the issues involved and looks forward to obtaining certainty as it concludes this lengthy matter.”

The consumers’ counsel claimed in their proposed class action that emissions control devices were installed in RAM trucks to allow the vehicles to pass inspections while emitting illegally high levels of pollutants during normal driving, unbeknown to the drivers. Quoting Garland, the attorneys said the companies’ conduct caused a “significant and harmful impact on people’s health and safety” and preliminary estimates suggest that defeat devices have caused “thousands of tons of excess nitrogen oxide emissions.”

This alleged misconduct caused the plaintiffs ascertainable economic loss, they continued, including at minimum the premium the proposed class paid for a diesel vehicle over a comparable gas vehicle. Consumers were also unknowingly exposed to the risk of potential breathing problems like asthma and respiratory infections because of the excess nitrogen oxide emissions, the attorneys added.

Bringing RICO claims against the defendants, proposed class counsel claimed the companies had a duty to disclose the existence of the defeat devices to drivers but conspired to engage in misleading marketing campaigns and false representations to state and federal regulators portraying the trucks as having clean diesel emissions systems and complying with state and federal standards.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys also accused FCA of having a pattern of emissions violations, pointing to a January 2017 the Environmental Protection Agency notice of violation against the company, accusing it of failing to justify or disclose defeat devices in model year 2014-2016 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel and 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel vehicles.