Tesla slammed With second class action lawsuit
IRVINE, CA -
8/7/2019
The Law Offices of Edward C. Chen has filed a second class action lawsuit against Tesla, Inc., this time on behalf of our client David Rasmussen.
The lawsuit, titled David Rasmussen v. Tesla, Inc., case number 5:19-cv-04596-SVK filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, arose after Tesla’s response to a series of battery fires worldwide involving its Model S vehicles.
Along with the Plaintiff, lead counsel Edward C. Chen Esq. concluded after their investigation that Tesla has known that their "pre-facelift" vehicles are prone to catching on fire if the batteries are charged to 4.2 volts, or 100% capacity.
As Ed Chen commented,
Tesla advertises these cars by their battery capacities like 60, 70, 75, 85 kWH etc. Tesla sold these cars with the advertised capacities and knew that they wouldn't be safe if charged fully to max battery capacity.
Tesla knew that they shipped out and delivered cars with this defect yet they failed to inform customers of the defect. They thought that they could sneak around disclosure by using software updates to limit the ability to fully charge the batteries. What happened after, of course, is that owners like [David] my client saw an immediate range drop of approximately 30 miles or so after updating his car with Tesla's updates [2019.16.1 and 2019.16.2].
What's even worse is Tesla's failure to acknowledge the fact that their own software updates limited the battery cap and throttled performance of their cars. They knew this and blatantly lied to people like [David] my client when he tried to get his battery replaced under warranty.
Tesla told customers like David that the range loss he was experiencing was 'normal' despite the obvious fact that a loss in range of approximately 30 miles suddenly and practically overnight is not normal degradation by any means.
This is no different than what Apple did to their older iPhones in the throttling and performance case.
The complaint alleges that Tesla violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act 18 U.S.C 1030, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act 15 U.S.C 2030 and various violations and fraud causes of action.
If you or someone you know has purchased a car from Tesla and have been denied a rightful under-warranty repair, you may be able to recover a portion of costs and damages by joining in the suit as a class members.
Please give us a call or contact us to discuss your options. We look forward to working with you.