— A Nissan class action lawsuit regarding shattered panoramic sunroofs is still in court eight years after it was filed.
In the latest legal move, Nissan has turned to the U.S. Supreme Court by filing a "writ of certiorari," petitioning the Court for review of an appeals court decision.
According to the Cornell Law School:
"A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it."
In this case, Nissan is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the shattered sunroof decision of the U.S. Court Of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit which let stand a district court decision to certify a class action lawsuit for customers in the states of California, Colorado, Florida and New York.
It's just one of a few recent appeals from automakers which are constantly facing class action lawsuits, many which are filed by vehicle owners who had no problems with their vehicles. And even if the owner(s) who sued did have vehicle problems, the vast majority of customers (class members) in class actions never had any problems.
In this Nissan shattered sunroof lawsuit, the named plaintiffs say their sunroofs did break, but Nissan argues the "overwhelming majority of the class members have had no shattering incidents."
This is why Nissan is asking the Supreme Court to review the rulings from lower courts. According to Nissan, the "uncontroverted evidence" shows that fewer than 0.2% of its panoramic sunroofs break from any cause, "including when a tree falls on them, when there is a rollover accident, or when they are hit by a hard rock during the life of the vehicle."
The Nissan shattered sunroof lawsuit began in 2017 for these vehicles nationwide:
- 2009-2014 and 2016-2020 Nissan Maxima
- 2014-2020 Nissan Rogue
- 2013-2020 Nissan Pathfinder
- 2009-2020 Nissan Murano
- 2013 Infiniti JX35
- 2014-2020 Infiniti QX60
After years in court, a judge did certify a sunroof class action lawsuit for Nissan customers in California, Colorado, Florida and New York, but customers in other states are not included. Illinois was also originally included but later dropped.
The lawsuit alleges the panoramic sunroofs are defective because they can suddenly shatter without any external impacts.
The Nissan shattered sunroof class action lawsuit is just one of several sunroof class actions that have been filed against vehicle manufacturers.
Nissan notes some of the lawyers for the plaintiffs filed four sunroof-related class actions against the automaker, but two were dismissed.
In one case, the district court found in favor of Nissan and said:
“It is for the Plaintiffs to demonstrate at this stage in litigation that they suffered some damages—it is circular logic to say they suffered injury because they overpaid for their vehicles where the cost failed to include the risk of injury—that injury being the risk of overpaying.”
Nissan wants the Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling because the named plaintiffs in this class action (Sherida Johnson v. Nissan) allegedly continued to rely on the same "repeatedly rejected theory of injury."
According to the lawsuit, a vehicle owner is still "injured" even if their panoramic sunroof didn't shatter because the owner allegedly overpaid for a defective vehicle.
But Nissan argues it submitted evidence to the district court which showed negative publicity and media attention about panoramic sunroofs did not have an impact on resale values for the vehicles.
"In other words, Nissan affirmatively demonstrated that no overpayment occurred. But the district court did not analyze it, instead allowing Plaintiffs’ theorized overpayment model to prevail." — Nissan
In its request to the Supreme Court, Nissan argues the "unrebutted evidence shows that over 99.8% of the class members will never experience an incident" with their panoramic sunroofs for any reason.
Although these legal actions have occurred, the Supreme Court has not decided if it will hear Nissan's case.
The Nissan shattered sunroof class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California: Sherida Johnson, et al., v. Nissan North America, Inc.
The plaintiffs are represented by Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, and Greg Coleman Law PC.