Court Grants Final Approval of $5.19 Million Mini Cooper Transmission Settlement

  

On April 29, 2014, the United States District Court, Central District of California, granted final approval of a $5.19 million class action settlement concerning an alleged defect in the transmission system of certain Mini Cooper vehicles manufactured by BMW that causes the transmission system to experience sudden premature failure before the end of the useful life of the vehicle.  

 

In granting approval of the settlement, the Court appointed the class action attorneys at Esensten Law, along with the other law firms that litigated this action, as Class Counsel.  In doing so, the Court praised Class Counsel for "the skill displayed by Class Counsel during the litigation of this case" and for having "done a considerable amount of work to develop Plaintiffs' claims in this case, and have committed significant resources.to this matter."  The Court further noted Class Counsel's "extensive experience with class action and complex litigation, including significant trial experience."

 

In September 2011, the class action attorneys at Esensten Law initiated a putative class action against BMW alleging that the transmissions in certain Mini Cooper vehicles are prone to sudden premature failure before the end of the useful life of the vehicles.  After conducting a significant investigation and dedicating considerable resources to litigating the action, the Esensten Law class action attorneys, along with various other law firms, negotiated a settlement on behalf of class members.

 

The settlement offers three key categories of compensation: (1) reimbursement for class members who incurred out-of-pocket expenses to replace or repair their transmissions; (2) reimbursement for class members who incurred out-of-pocket expenses to replace or repair their transmissions after the effective date of the settlement; and (3) reimbursement for class members who sold their vehicles as a result of the transmission failure.  

 

The case is Aarons v. BMW of North America, LLC, Case No. CV 11-7667 PSG (CWx).