Chevy Bolt Battery Lawsuit Will Proceed

October 10, 2022 — A Chevy Bolt battery lawsuit will continue in court, although several claims were dismissed in the most recent court action of the case.

The Chevrolet Bolt battery class action lawsuit was consolidated from eight separate class actions.

The class action alleges 2017-2022 Chevy Bolt electric vehicles are equipped with defective lithium-ion batteries and battery management systems.

The Bolt battery can catch fire if a single battery cell in the module has a torn anode tab and also a folded separator. The batteries allegedly won't catch fire unless both conditions are present.

General Motors knows of at least 13 Chevrolet Bolt fires caused by the batteries.

The Bolt battery lawsuit says several software updates have been offered to customers, but those updates prevented the cars from being fully charged.

Chevy Bolt owners were advised to limit charging and to park outdoors and away from things that could catch fire. Bolt owners were also warned not to charge the cars overnight and avoid depleting the batteries below certain charge levels.

GM finally agreed to replace the Bolt batteries at a cost of about $2 billion. But battery manufacturer LG agreed to cover about $1.9 billion of the recall cost.

The U.S. Chevy Bolt battery recall includes 50,932 model year 2017-2019 Bolts and 59,392 model year 2019-2022 Chevrolet Bolts.

Chevrolet Bolt Battery Lawsuit Ruling

The Chevy Bolt battery class action lawsuit includes 36 plaintiffs, but the claims of 16 plaintiffs have been put on hold.

Federal Judge Terrence G. Berg said he must view the allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, but GM argued the judge should compel arbitration for all claims of 16 plaintiffs because the 16 plaintiffs had signed arbitration agreements when they purchased their Bolts.

The judge ruled in favor of General Motors and said all claims from 16 plaintiffs will be stayed pending the outcome of arbitration.

But in a matter regarding nationwide class allegations, GM learned the judge declined to strike those claims, at least at this stage of litigation.

In a 110-page order, Judge Berg ruled these claims will proceed:

Plaintiffs fraudulent concealment claims will not be dismissed for failure to state a claim.
Most of the consumer protection claims against GM will proceed.
Most of plaintiffs’ warranty claims will proceed.

However, General Motors had success with getting several claims dismissed:

All affirmative fraud claims will be dismissed.
Most fraudulent concealment claims will be dismissed under specific state laws.
All unjust enrichment claims will be dismissed.

The Chevrolet Bolt battery lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division): In Re Chevrolet Bolt EV Battery Litigation.

CarComplaints.com has information about actions related to the Chevrolet Bolt batteries.