East St. Louis, Illinois—A federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois has granted final approval of a nationwide settlement of a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of all owners and lessees of 2005 and 2006 Volkswagen Jetta vehicles who experienced a failure in their driver’s side wire harness. A wire harness failure can result in the loss of power windows, power door locks and other electronically controlled accessories on the vehicle. The settlement as approved by the Honorable Staci M. Yandle provides for repair or reimbursement for those who have experienced such a failure. The alleged wire harness defect does not present a safety issue with the vehicle.
The Holland Law Firm, along with co-counsel, filed the first VW wire harness case in the United States in 2013, which eventually was amended to include class representatives from various states across the country. The approved nationwide settlement provides an extended warranty plan on the affected vehicles that is more than double the factory warranty. The settlement also provides for immediate repair of any vehicle that incurred the failure within the extended warranty period, as well as reimbursement for those who had already incurred out of pocket expenses in connection with a wire harness failure.
Judge Yandle’s approval of the settlement came following a final fairness hearing led by Eric Holland and Seth Crompton of the Holland Law Firm on behalf of the nationwide class. The final approval order found that the settlement provides substantial benefits for the class and that, considering inter alia the intensely contested settlement negotiations, the settlement was “fair, adequate and reasonable” under the standards of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. As previously reported, the total available benefits made available by the settlement exceeded $40 million dollars.
The Holland Law Firm, a nationally recognized complex litigation firm, has resolved class action matters on behalf of consumers who have been financially harmed as a result of alleged corporate misconduct and fraud. The firm has settled cases ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars, serving in a variety of appointed leadership positions from lead counsel to plaintiffs’ steering committee, most often focusing on cases involving financial fraud, mortgages and product liability matters.
For additional information about the Holland Law Firm complex litigation practice or the settlement described above, please contact the firm at info@allfela.com or 314-241-8111.