McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP's 2019 Year in Review

ONTARIO, Calif., Jan. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP (MWA) – an Inland Empire-based firm specializing in matters involving defective products causing injury and death, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, medical devices and pharmaceutical failures, nursing home and elder abuse, consumer class actions, antitrust litigation, and contingent commercial litigation – is proud to reflect on 2019 case results, developments, and filings in its bank class actions, product liability actions, mass torts, contingent commercial litigation, personal injury and antitrust groups.

In 2019, MWA filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of customers alleging People's Bank had breached their contract in how they assessed overdraft fees. Located in Connecticut, People's Bank provides consumer banking to customers primarily in the Northeast. Following hard-fought litigation, MWA was successfully able to settle the case for $6.5 million. Additionally, MWA filed a class action lawsuit alleging Bank of Hawaii had breached their consumer fraud statute in how they assessed overdraft fees. Located in Honolulu, Bank of Hawaii provides consumer banking to customers primarily located in Hawaii. Following several years of intensive litigation, MWA was successfully able to settle the case for $8 million.

There were several high-profile developments within MWA's product liability group this year. In June, MWA filed a national class action on behalf of all owners of model year 2005-2019 Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks for Ford's failure to disclose an alleged safety defect, which can cause the vehicles to start violently shaking after hitting rough pavement or expansion joints at speeds above 45 mph. Known as the "Ford Super Duty Truck Death Wobble," the result of this shaking is a loss of handling and control that can only be remedied by a sudden reduction of speed – itself an unsafe reaction on open highways. For years, Ford consistently maintained the problem was the result of substantial underinflation of vehicle tires, leaving many owners to spend thousands of dollars trying to correct this safety defect themselves. Since the filing of the complaint, Ford issued a Technical Service Bulletin, limited to 2017-2019 vehicles, directing dealers to replace steering linkage dampers manufactured before May 1, 2018 when owners experience this issue.

MWA is also currently litigating a national class action on behalf of Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep owners who purchased vehicles sold with Chrysler's Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. Chrysler has refused to honor the warranty based on a provision, which was undisclosed prior to the sale of the vehicles. The provision requires a powertrain inspection within 60 days of each five-year anniversary of the vehicle's in-service date. MWA alleges that Chrysler's conduct breaches the Lifetime Warranty and violates the doctrine of good faith and fair dealing and violates consumer protection laws.

Additionally, on December 12, 2019, MWA filed a national class action on behalf of model year 2016-2018 Honda Civic vehicles, alleging these vehicles were sold with a defective air conditioning condenser unit that causes the system first to fail to cool the vehicle, then causes the vehicle's air conditioning compressor to rupture and leak. The complaint alleges that for several years Honda denied the defect's existence and, in many cases, charged consumers many thousands of dollars for part replacements and service related to the Class Vehicles' air conditioning systems. In August 2019, Honda issued a Technical Service Bulletin to its dealers, admitting the Class Vehicles were installed with a "defective A/C condenser from the factory," and extending the warranty on the condenser to "10 years from the original date of purchase with unlimited miles," but has failed to offer relief for owners that incurred repair costs prior to the issuance of the TSB.

MWA also experienced a surge in mass tort filings this year, having filed over 100 defective 3M™ Ear Plugs cases (totaling 130 for the firm). These ear plugs were provided to active military personnel. Additionally, MWA has filed 38 defective hernia mesh cases and 64 Roundup^® cases.

2019 case results involving contingent commercial litigation include In re: TD Bank NA Debit Card Overdraft Fee Litigation, a $70 million dollar settlement for the breach of contract and unfair business practices against TD Bank. Partner Michele M. Vercoski leads MWA's contingent commercial litigation practice and belongs to the elite club of lawyers admitted to the United States Supreme Court to argue a business issue on her case before nine justices in the highest court in the land earlier this year.

MWA also won two large settlements in big personal injury. In Joseph v. Stagecoach Towing Inc., on the morning of July 18, 2017, client E.J. was riding his motorcycle on Oak Valley Parkway when a tow truck operated by Stagecoach Towing turned left in front of him. Unable to stop his motorcycle in time, E.J. collided with the side of the tow truck and sustained severely fractured legs as a result. The lawsuit was filed in Riverside Superior Court and after nearly a year and a half of litigation the case resolved for the policy limits of the defendant for $1 million. Ballejos v. Thompson et. al settled for $2.6 million, for a wrongful death involving course and scope issues against the employer of the driver that caused the accident.

Within the antitrust working group, MWA continued to pave the way in one of the hottest topics in antitrust law, labor market monopsony (a single buyer in the market). Building on the success of its groundbreaking "no-poach" cases against McDonald's and Jimmy John's, MWA secured co-lead counsel positions in new antitrust actions against Papa John's and Burger King. MWA is now at the forefront of employee class actions against several of the nation's largest fast food franchises, and defeated motions to dismiss in three of these no-poaching actions in 2019; major developments are anticipated for all these cases in 2020.  Separately, MWA also secured the reinstatement of its corporate clients' claims in the Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation Multi-District Litigation. After the claims of all plaintiffs in that MDL were dismissed in 2016, MWA led the appeal process that resulted in reversal (and reinstatement) by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The firm looks forward to pressing its individual clients' antitrust "opt-out" claims, which are asserted against some of the world's largest trading and investment banking firms, towards trial in the coming year.

"It has been a considerable year for MWA, not only because of the expansion of our practice groups and offices, but because of our substantial settlements and case filings," commented MWA Founding Partner Richard D. McCune. "We anticipate on building on the success of 2019, and 2020 will allow us further expansion and growth so that we may continue to expand on our dedication in ensuring our clients receive the best representation and results possible."

About McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP: The largest consumer firm based in the Inland Empire, McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP has a deep history of success for its clients, including a $203 million verdict against Wells Fargo Bank, recovery of over $1 billion for its clients, and over 100 contingency cases with recovery of $1 million or more. MWA holds offices in Ontario, San Bernardino, Palm Desert, and Irvine, as well as its national practice with a mid-west office in Illinois and an east coast office in New Jersey. For over 30 years, MWA has successfully represented clients involved in general complex and commercial litigation, as well as personal injury and class action matters. Visit mccunewright.com for more information.

Contact:
Devin Texeira
[email protected]

SOURCE McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP

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