David 1, Goliath 0 - Honda loses in small claims court over Civic Hybrid

It all comes down to bait and switch, even if the intention was not malicious.

Tom

 

Yes - she is going to be outgunned in the appeal.

But Peters had the advantage in the small claims case - she is an attorney (not currently practicing, but she had in the past) so in the original case she was the only lawyer able to argue the case.

The settlement in the class action was a complete joke, but the feeling that I get after reading a few of the news accounts from both the last few days as well as back when the case was filed is that she is a bit of a bottom-feeder herself - why else would she not first at least try and let Honda diagnose the problem and offer a fix - all it would have done is prevented the lawsuit had they fixed the issue.

 

Do you honestly think Toyota was unable to find a former lawyer or legal clerk to represent their side? It's not like Mr. Toyoda had to come and represent himself.

Tom

 

Actually it is very fair. Assuming there are 200,000 HCH sold, so the award to the owners would be $100 x 200,000 = $20M.
The total award is $20M + $10M = $30M.
The lawyers take 33% of total award. This is stand lawyer fee for any law suite.

 

honda.

 

The earth couldn't tell either, that's why the tsunami hit both companies

I don't really think standard fees mean its fair.

Car owners are wronged by honda. Lawyers make money, owners get screwed. It would have been much better pr and less expensive if honda had handed the owners $200 each when they changed the software.

 

Call me cynical ... on an extremely sick level - but I'm going to give a real world example as a former insider of such shenanigans ... and as a former member of the consumer attorneys ( Consumer Attorneys of California ) What if Heather Peters is a shill. Supposition. Imagine a Honda insider, working to mitigate Honda's damages. Honda doesn't even have to appear in small claims. Now that the muni action renders a verdict - Honda files the appropriate motions to get the matter taken up to the 'REaL courts' ... and it get's settled in their favor ... Honda wins. Now, other capable Honda class members contemplating an opt-out realize they don't stand a chance. BAM. Honda wins all subsequent filings by default. Way to go Honda ... you gotta commend their strategy (if such a thing really happened ... but of course multi-nationals would never do such a thing ... right? )

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Voters need to enact a law that says attorneys in class action lawsuits can receive no more than 50% of the total payout (or some other percentage or limit).

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a Toyota in the first place?

"Cash For Clunkers 2.0" should be "Cash For Hondas"
New vehicle purchased must be CAFE rated at least 48mpg combined. aka: it must be a Prius.
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Plenty of cars, even non-hybrids, have CAFE ratings above 48. Remember that the Prius CAFE is over 70.

 

Hybrid Honda owner loses appeal of small-claims court victory: Update | Motoramic - Yahoo! Autos

 

Time to update the thread's title:

David 1, Goliath 1 - Honda wins in county court

 

She has a year to appeal ... but sounds like she's giving up. Quitter! Funny thing to me is the judge is saying most folks get EPA ... but that's not the issue. The issue is/was that after Honda re-programs battery usage ECU's to a gentler usage level, the Honda gets lower then EPA estimates. Seems like all you have to do is drive pre & post programmed Honda, at identical speeds, around the same given area, at the same time, and see what the result are.

 

Agreed, but that would only be relevant if it is the nature of her complaint. I haven't read the complaint, but if it focuses on advertised mileage then the EPA figure is the only one of merit. The law doesn't care about the big picture, only the rules of the game.

Tom

 

I know it's trolly but the lesson she's learned is if you want good mileage don't bother with a Honda hybrid

 

Skoorbmax, she was & now she's not. What if Toyota's response to the "brake issue" was to reprogram the Brake ECU to eliminate regen braking and use friction braking 100%? What if Toyota & the dealer don't tell you this before you agree to the recall fix?

Now your FE is off 10% and the county judge says "close enough".