Ninth Circuit Decertifies Nationwide Class in Honda Braking System Suit

Originally published January 20, 2012

Keyworrds: California, Unfair Competition Law, UCL, False Advertising Law, FAL, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, CLRA, collision mitigation braking system, CMBS, Honda, Mazza

On January 12, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decertified a nationwide class in Mazza v. American Honda Motor Co., No. 09-55376, --- F.3d ---, 2012 WL 89176. Although the only named plaintiffs came from Florida and Maryland, they filed suit in California seeking to represent all persons nationwide who had purchased or leased new or used certain model-year Acura RL vehicles equipped with a Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS).

The plaintiffs alleged that American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (Honda), Acura's US distributor, had misrepresented the CMBS in violation of California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL), False Advertising Law (FAL), and Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) by failing to explain that (i) the system would not