Federal Panel Agrees to Consolidate Lawsuits Against Navistar

A federal panel in in Charleston, South Carolina, has approved a request by Navistar to consolidate and transfer to a federal court in Chicago 13 of 14 defective engine lawsuits filed against the truck maker in eight separate jurisdictions.

In a Dec. 17 ruling, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said it would allow one of the litigants, Ross Neely Systems of Birmingham, Alabama, to proceed with its lawsuit pending in the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.

The panel said that the 13 lawsuits, which center on allegations that Navistar sold defective MaxxForce 13-liter engines featuring advanced exhaust gas recirculation emission systems, “involve common questions of fact” and that “centralization will eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary.”

“In all the actions, plaintiffs allege that trucks or other heavy-duty vehicles in which these engines were installed suffered repeated failures and fault warnings, resulting in costly and time-consuming repairs,” the panel said. “All of the plaintiffs assert claims for breach of express and implied warranties.”

Earlier this month a federal magistrate in Dallas approved, in part, a request by Ross Neely’s attorneys for Navistar to hand over documents related to the MaxxForce EGR engines by Dec. 31.

“As a matter of policy, we don't comment on pending litigation,” Navistar spokesman Steve Schrier said on Dec. 17.