Sixth Circuit Upholds Certification of a State-Wide Express Warranty Class, Finding No Abuse of Discretion Where Class Potentially Includes Members Who Suffered No Injury

In a Rule 23(b)(3) class action filed in the Southern District of Ohio, the class seeks damages against Ford Motor Company for a defective throttle assembly that allegedly causes the accelerator to stick in some 1999 and 2000 Mercury Villager minivans.  The district court certified a class of all Ohio residents who owned or leased those vehicles during the initial express warranty period, thus potentially including in the class some number of owners and lessees who never actually experienced the problem.

On interlocutory appeal of the class certification order under Rule 23(f), the Sixth Circuit held that certifying a state-wide class to litigate the express warranty claims was not an abuse of the district court's discretion because the class and the named plaintiffs satisfied the criteria of Rules 23(a) and 23(b)(3).

The Court's decision in Daffin v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. 05-3545, filed on August 18, 2006, may be found here.