PRESS RELEASE – 02/06/2009 – By: Valerie Hall
The Merchant Law Group National Class Action Suit filed against GM which is General Motors Corporation and General Motors Canada Limited protects the rights of owners and leasers of Saturn cars having Vti transmissions across Canada. Canadians who want to participate in the Saturn Vti Class Action are filling in the online form to establish a claim against GM. Past and present Saturn owners and leasers who experienced VTi transmission failure are explaining what happened and how Saturn and Gm reacted to them.
http://www.merchantlaw.com/saturn.html
Merchant Law Group alleges that the problem with Saturn Vti transmissions is that they use a weak belt and are prone to failure and therefore inherently defective. Vti failures have resulted in evasive maneuvers to prevent rear end collisions, chain reaction accidents and loss of life.
It is unconscionable that GM has neglected its responsibility to properly remedy the problem and has knowingly put the owners and their families back into defective vehicles needlessly and recklessly endangering their lives.
In the Statement of Claim for the Canadian Saturn Vti Class Action, the proposed grounds include alleged acts, omissions, wrong doings, and breaches of legal duties and obligations which were unfair and unconscionable business and trade practices and breached statutory warranties of fitness, acceptable quality, merchantability, and durability.
On Nov. 24, 2008 Merchant Law Group filed the Canadian Multi-jurisdictional Saturn Vti Class Action in Regina Saskatchewan for Saturn vehicles containing Vti Transmissions on behalf of current and former Canadian owners and leasers. Later in the same week it was filed in Montreal Quebec.
This Saturn Vti Class Action Class Action is filed on behalf of first and subsequent owners and leasers, in all regions of Canada, who have suffered economic loss because of these multiple breakdowns and repairs.
Many of them have suffered monetary loss after trading in or selling Saturns with Vti transmissions. The filed Saturn Vti Class Action asks the Court to compensate Saturn Vti owners and leasers for all this financial loss.
Between 2002 and 2005, GM manufactured, sold and distributed Saturns, including the 2002-2005 Saturn Vue, and 2003-2004 Saturn Ion containing Vti Transmissions. The plaintiffs allege that the Vti Transmissions were defective due to defective design and negligent manufacture by GM.
Consequently they prematurely fail, making the vehicles inoperable, unsafe, and necessitating costly repairs. GM publicly acknowledged an unusually high failure rate on vehicles with the Vti Transmission. But it has not recalled the transmissions and replaced them with a strong chain to solve the problem.
The Vti Transmissions used a continuously variable transmission -CVT- . Unlike conventional automatic transmissions, which use traditional gears to shift at a few fixed points,A CVT shifts through the use of a belt or chain that runs through pulleys that move closer together or farther apart.
In order to generate error codes, GM returns to customers cars with transmissions that have repeatedly stopped operating properly on highways at high-speed without warning, causing sudden and massive deceleration.
The Saturn vehicles lose power at random in town at intersections and elsewhere on public roads. The transmission failures create an enormous risk to human life, wherever Saturns having Vti transmissions are driven.
GM refuses to honour the new car power train warranty and extended warranty and fails to properly diagnose, repair and replace the defective vti transmissions with safe transmissions.
The plaintiffs allege that GM neglects the rights of the consumer to be warned about this allegedly defective and dangerous transmission. Withholding this important information prevents informed consent before the consumer enters into a new vehicle contract with GM Canada.
All owners and leaser who have experienced VTi transmission failure who want to participate in this Saturn Vti National Class Action are invited to provide comments and details which explain exactly what happened when their Saturn Vti transmission failed including a description of how Saturn and GM reacted.
If you presently own, lease or in the past have owned or leased a Saturn vehicle with a Vti transmission that failed complete the online form at the link that follows in order to assert your legal rights in this matter.
For more information about the article contact: canadianclassactionsaturnvue@gmail.com
http://www.merchantlaw.com/saturn.html
MERCHANT LAW GROUP LLP,
2401 Saskatchewan Drive
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 4H8
E.F. Anthony Merchant, Q.C.
Chief Counsel for the Plaintiffs
Telephone: ( 306 ) 359-7777
Facsimile: ( 306 ) 522-3299,
1-888-567-777
mailto:merchant@merchantlaw.com
Owen Falquero
Avocat de la plaignante
Pour le service en francais
mailto:MONTREAL@MERCHANTLAW.COM
83 St. Paul Ouest
Montréal, Québec
H2Y 1Z1
Tel: (514) 842-7776 ou (514) 842-7776 ou (866)982-7777
*Fax: (514) 842-8055 -attention de Owen Falquero
http://www.cba.org/ClassActions/Class_2008/quebec/pdf/12-09-2008_GeneralMoters.pdf —