Nissan Reaches Settlement in Defective LEAF Battery Class Ac

[Stoaty]

At least you received a form. To date, I've received nothing.

I got mine 2 days ago, so should be coming your way soon.

 

[oscar]

Most people will remain in the class because that's the default if no action is taken. I should get myself excluded from the class, but it's an even money bet the form will sit on my desk and get buried under other higher priorities.

It annoys me that the default is to join the class. It should be the other way around. Why should I have to jump through their hoops if I want nothing to do with it?

100% agree with above...why we have to go out our way to opt out. WHy waste my valuable time to write a letter to opt out. Can I go to judge later and said I never receive a letter. This is a scam by the lawyer and Nissan!

It's dumb and stupid. Can I said I never receive the mail. This mean I'm still stuck in the lawsuit. This will never fly, lots of people throw away their junk mail.

This whole thing piss me off. I'm going opt out and waste my freaking time and a stamp!

 

[TonyWilliams]

It's dumb and stupid. Can I said I never receive the mail. This mean I'm still stuck in the lawsuit. This will never fly, lots of people throw away their junk mail.

If you through away notices from the court, law firm, etc, and later claim ignorance, good luck to you.

The fact that it was mailed to your last known address is likely all the legal justification required to have you in the class.

 

[Stoaty]

100% agree with above...why we have to go out our way to opt out. WHy waste my valuable time to write a letter to opt out. Can I go to judge later and said I never receive a letter.

Well, you could do that, but now that you have posted info that the owner of Leaf number 936 knows about the settlement, the judge may not buy it.

 

[Vuman]

Most people will remain in the class because that's the default if no action is taken. I should get myself excluded from the class, but it's an even money bet the form will sit on my desk and get buried under other higher priorities.

It annoys me that the default is to join the class. It should be the other way around. Why should I have to jump through their hoops if I want nothing to do with it?

DGP, most of the time the default is remaining in the class action because you usually get some benefits even if you do nothing. (and yes, most of the time its a few bucks and the lawyers get a few millions )

However, this class action is very harmful in that most Leaf owners (in moderate climate) will not benefit from this lawsuit because they will not hit 8 bars in 5 years/60,000 miles, but they will lose all rights to future actions in regards to any degradation issues with this battery. Say if your battery degrade to 40 percent by year 9 or 10, Nissan will say sorry but you didn't opt-out even though we promoted this vehicle as a 100 mile range car and battery will only degrade 30 percent by year 10.

 

[stumped]

In the settlement part 16 says "How much is the Class Counsel being paid?"

It says $1,900,000. And continues "Additionally, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for payments of $5,000 each to the Class Representatives for their service to the Class."

Does anyone know what this means? Does it mean that for every car that remains in the class action suit that the lawyers will get $5,000.

 

[Stoaty]

In the settlement part 16 says "How much is the Class Counsel being paid?"

It says $1,900,000. And continues "Additionally, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for payments of $5,000 each to the Class Representatives for their service to the Class."

Does anyone know what this means? Does it mean that for every car that remains in the class action suit that the lawyers will get $5,000.

I presume it means the Leaf owners who actually filed the suit (I think there were two of them) would get $5,000 each, while the attorneys get $1.9 million. Sounds fair to me.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Sloaty; i think you nailed it

 

[Vuman]

In the settlement part 16 says "How much is the Class Counsel being paid?"

It says $1,900,000. And continues "Additionally, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for payments of $5,000 each to the Class Representatives for their service to the Class."

Does anyone know what this means? Does it mean that for every car that remains in the class action suit that the lawyers will get $5,000.

I presume it means the Leaf owners who actually filed the suit (I think there were two of them) would get $5,000 each, while the attorneys get $1.9 million. Sounds fair to me.

Stoaty is correct. The two Class Reprsentatives get $5000. We are "Class" or "Class Members" which is stated in part 2 of the settlement paper.

 

[91040]

Congratulations, Tom. You have opted into the Settlement without objection! No such thing as free will.

At least you received a form. To date, I've received nothing.

Most people will remain in the class because that's the default if no action is taken. I should get myself excluded from the class, but it's an even money bet the form will sit on my desk and get buried under other higher priorities.

 

[Vuman]

In the settlement part 16 says "How much is the Class Counsel being paid?"

It says $1,900,000. And continues "Additionally, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for payments of $5,000 each to the Class Representatives for their service to the Class."

Does anyone know what this means? Does it mean that for every car that remains in the class action suit that the lawyers will get $5,000.

I presume it means the Leaf owners who actually filed the suit (I think there were two of them) would get $5,000 each, while the attorneys get $1.9 million. Sounds fair to me.

Stoaty, I'm actually surprised that the two Class Idiots didn't hold out for more from Nissan as this lawsuit benefits Nissan more than us. Way I feel about it, those two sold us out for a measly 5 thousand bucks. For people who will not opt-out, like Dave in Washington who will not hit 4 bars in 5yrs/60,000 miles, he will not benefit at all but he loses all rights to any other problems that may come up in the future relating to degradation in the battery pack. Whose to say that Dave's battery pack won't suddenly hit rapid degradation in that wet salty air up there after 5 years and he's stuck with a car with 50% battery or less at year 9 or 10? Wouldn't he at least like the option to do something about it? But since he didn't opt-out, Nissan could just say, "Sorry Dave, but you agreed to the 5yr/60K warranty because of that Class Action Lawsuit. But hey, just buy this new EV that we just made, much better battery than that junk we made 5 years ago."

For owners like myself in hot weather climate, this Class Action is also terrible because it only guarantee that they have to restore the battery pack to 9 bars or better at the end of the warranty period. Dave, I know that they are working on a "heat resistant" pack and that they may even give us a certificate if we need a battery swap before the "heat" pack is ready. But this lawsuit does not guarantee it and we don't even know if the "heat" pack will be much better that this current battery pack.
Worse case scenario: I've lost 2 bars already at 14,600 miles in 10 months and most likely need a swap soon and will probably need more than one by the end of the warranty. At the end of the warranty, they are only obligated to restore my battery to 9 bars. In this heat, I probably will be down to 50% by year 6 or 7. Far cry from the "only about 30% degradation in 10 years" that they were promoting early on.

 

[JimSouCal]

In the settlement part 16 says "How much is the Class Counsel being paid?"

It says $1,900,000. And continues "Additionally, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for payments of $5,000 each to the Class Representatives for their service to the Class."

Does anyone know what this means? Does it mean that for every car that remains in the class action suit that the lawyers will get $5,000.

I presume it means the Leaf owners who actually filed the suit (I think there were two of them) would get $5,000 each, while the attorneys get $1.9 million. Sounds fair to me.

Stoaty is correct. The two Class Reprsentatives get $5000. We are "Class" or "Class Members" which is stated in part 2 of the settlement paper.

Sloaty; i think you nailed it

Well, I got the letter, and wondered, and yep, I too think Stoaty nailed it...

1. The question do I: object, opt out, or do nothing (acquiesce)? I am low mileage moderate climate with all 12 still showing on my 2011 LEAF.

2. BTW, $1,900,000.00, which is approximately 2 million, seems to be, well, opportunistic. Is there anything to be done, as I don't think the attorneys did a good job, and may have "breached their fiduciary duty" to class members? In other words, MAYBE MEMBERS OF TO SO CALLED CLASS CAN NOW SUE THE TWO LAWYERS FOR LEGAL MALPRACTICE... Just thinking out loud here.

Concrete suggestions and helpful comments and welcomed please...

 

[kubel]

Concrete suggestions and helpful comments and welcomed please...

It's worth noting that even if you do opt out, you likely will still get the same warranty protection that everyone else gets, because Nissan doesn't warranty owners, they warranty cars. The court considers this warranty as a settlement that applies to the owner. But you can guarantee Nissan won't be implementing it that way.

 

[uwskier20]

Also stumped on what to do. I tossed my notification, figuring the expanded warranty was sufficient, but am now having major second thoughts.

If I opt out, would it be possible that I would lost the expanded battery warranty coverage? Doesn't seem like it, but always a possibility, I suppose.

More likely, I might just object, and outline a few of my issues; namely, the precipitous drop (very non-linear!) in capacity from 97% in April to 85-86% today. I'm at 42,300 miles with all 12 bars, and have babied my battery along, but found the rapid capacity loss to be alarming. The lack of info from Nissan also bugs me; that doesn't really have monetary value, but it would quiet my nerves, as I would have more certainty in what I need to do down the road (e.g., new car vs. new battery).

Also, I think I should have gone to law school. $2 million! Good grief. :twisted:

 

[dgpcolorado]

DGP, most of the time the default is remaining in the class action because you usually get some benefits even if you do nothing. (and yes, most of the time its a few bucks and the lawyers get a few millions ) ...

Most of the class action suit notices I get involve stocks (they are common lawyer scams to extort money from companies because the stock went down; the defendants always settle because it is cheaper than continuing to litigate). I always have to opt in, usually by submitting a lot of information to verify that I qualify. I can't recall ever getting one of these where the default was to be a part of the class.

 

[Vuman]

Concrete suggestions and helpful comments and welcomed please...

It's worth noting that even if you do opt out, you likely will still get the same warranty protection that everyone else gets, because Nissan doesn't warranty owners, they warranty cars. The court considers this warranty as a settlement that applies to the owner. But you can guarantee Nissan won't be implementing it that way.

Kubal, most every one should opt-out, especially if your battery will not degrade to trigger the expanded warranty. You get no benefits from this lawsuit and lose your rights to pursue any other recourse against Nissan.
Don't you find it interesting that you write a letter to the court if you object but stay in the lawsuit? But if you want to opt-out, they don't ask for the reason? Kind of Nissan and the plaintiffs lawyers not wanting the Judge to hear many arugments against this lawsuit to push this thru quickly and quietly so that the lawyers get paid and Nissan protected from further lawsuits.

As for other things you can do, I've already contacted a law firm to see our options. I'm also contacting a local television news program to see if they be interested doing a story to bring some media attention to this. You all could do the same, especially out in California since there are lots of EV drivers out there.

 

[Valdemar]

I'm down one CB as of last May @33k, now 36k miles, projecting adding 20k/mile year for the next couple of years. It is not clear if I'll be down to 8 bars before I hit 60k, but still there is a non zero chance of this happening. Facing the dilemma to opt in or opt out. Hmm.

 

[Vuman]

Just got back from a Nissan dealership. We pulled up the warranty by my VIN and it is confirmed that the battery degradation warranty is there. The below 9 bars before 5yr/60k warranty is in affect. This class action is the most worthless I've seen, suing for something we already have. I'll now call 1-800-nissan1 to confirm and ask them above the lawsuit. Will then contact the plaintiffs lawyer and see what the hell is going on there.

 

[surfingslovak]

Just got back from a Nissan dealership. We pulled up the warranty by my VIN and it is confirmed that the battery degradation warranty is there. The below 9 bars before 5yr/60k warranty is in affect. This class action is the most worthless I've seen, suing for something we already have. I'll now call 1-800-nissan1 to confirm and ask them above the lawsuit. Will then contact the plaintiffs lawyer and see what the hell is going on there.

The warranty was announced on December 28, 2012, and it might have been established in part because of the lawsuit as well. Nissan could have offered the warranty without a suit, but I'm not sure if anyone here can make that determination.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Also stumped on what to do. I tossed my notification, figuring the expanded warranty was sufficient, but am now having major second thoughts.

If I opt out, would it be possible that I would lost the expanded battery warranty coverage? Doesn't seem like it, but always a possibility, I suppose.

More likely, I might just object, and outline a few of my issues; namely, the precipitous drop (very non-linear!) in capacity from 97% in April to 85-86% today. I'm at 42,300 miles with all 12 bars, and have babied my battery along, but found the rapid capacity loss to be alarming. The lack of info from Nissan also bugs me; that doesn't really have monetary value, but it would quiet my nerves, as I would have more certainty in what I need to do down the road (e.g., new car vs. new battery).

Also, I think I should have gone to law school. $2 million! Good grief. :twisted:

its not too late. you dont need the notification. I can send you the info you need. its just basic car info and a mailing addy.

What really sucks; the temps in the mid 60's for the most part. my Batt temps have been in the upper 60's-low 70's and I have gained back about 2% and that seems to be temporary because I have lost a GID a day since that one jump 3 days ago...