On April 13, 2017, in Azoulai v. BMW of N. Am. LLC (Case No. 16-cv-00589), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a proposed consumer fraud class action against BMW of North America LLC (BMW) concerning the soft-closing automatic doors (SCA) in various BMW models.

While many automotive defect claims are brought as pure product liability actions, the plaintiffs in Azoulai sought to “hybridize product liability and consumer fraud doctrines” in pursuit of a more lucrative fraud-based class action damages award. Encouragingly, the court rejected these efforts, finding that slamming doors are a known hazard (that was warned against) and that the consumer fraud doctrine was inapplicable.

Originally published in Law 360 on May 24, 2017.