— A Jeep Liberty window regulator class-action lawsuit will proceed even though one of the plaintiffs was accused of destroying crucial evidence.
Chrysler was first sued in 2010 by plaintiff Michael Wolfington who allegedly repaired his Jeep Liberty 11 times for window regulator problems, in some cases paying $400 for each repair. Wolfington later dropped his lawsuit and joined a separate class-action lawsuit filed in April 2013.
The lead plaintiff in the 2013 lawsuit, Steven Doyle, claims the 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty has defective window regulators that cause the windows to fall into the doors or freeze in position. The lawsuit also alleges the replacement regulators constantly fail and if Chrysler would have admitted the defect, owners would have purchased the part from a different company.
In what has to be one of the more absurd legal responses to a lawsuit, Chrysler said it didn't have to tell customers the replacement regulators were defective because owners should have known that fact based on the regulators always failing.
CarComplaints.com has heard from hundreds of Jeep Liberty owners about the same defective window regulators that can cost hundreds of dollars to replace.
"Just got quoted $500 for the PART by my dealer. Googled looking for a cheaper fix and found out it happens to everyone. Thanks, Jeep." - 2006 Jeep Liberty owner / Black Forest, Colorado
"Just had the driver's side rear window repaired for the third time, replacement of regulator and window. Have had all three other windows repaired in the past for the same problem, and the same repair. Was told in January, 2011 about the extended warranty from Chrysler on this repair, so wrote to them for a refund of the $100 deductible I paid in April, 2010 under my extended Chrysler service contract. Was told today that Chrysler changed its mind about coverage of this repair and will now only cover replacement of the mechanism that actually lifts the window, so I had to pay another deductible." - 2006 Jeep Liberty owner / Island Lake, Illinois
The window regulator lawsuit is still alive, although without one plaintiff who heard an earful from the judge.
Maryland resident Robin Allen joined the Jeep Liberty lawsuit seeking to represent affected Jeep owners in Maryland. Allen said the window regulator problem was so bad in her 2006 Jeep Liberty her dad had to use screws to keep the windows shut.
Allen joined the class-action lawsuit alleging she had to make five repairs to the windows and the alleged defect did nothing but decrease the value of the Jeep Liberty.
Chrysler responded by saying Allen shouldn't be a plaintiff in the lawsuit because she sold the Liberty before joining the lawsuit, which is equal to destroying the evidence. The judge agreed and sanctioned Allen for "spoliation of evidence" and agreed with Chrysler that Allen wasn't fit to represent Maryland Jeep Liberty owners.
The Jeep Liberty window regulator lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California - Steve Doyle, et al. v. Chrysler Group LLC.
The plaintiffs are represented by Arias Ozzello & Gignac, Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis LLP, and Goldenberg Schneider LPA.
Interested to see how bad the window regulator problem is in the 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty? Click below, or file your own complaint here.