June 13, 2025
General Motors can’t rely on an arbitration clause contained in a purchase agreement between a plaintiff customer and a dealership to arbitrate his claims alleging GM made cars with a defective transmission, after a Michigan federal judge ruled Friday the clause doesn’t cover GM, which wasn’t a party to the contract.
In a 13-page order, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson of the Eastern District of Michigan issued an order denying in part GM’s motion to compel arbitration against Kenneth Wilkinson, one of several plaintiffs in a proposed class action accusing the automotive giant of knowingly selling cars with defective automatic transmissions.
The plaintiffs alleged GM never told existing customers about the issue and only addressed it if they came in and complained about the problem within the warranty, so many drivers had to pay out of pocket for repairs.
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“We welcome Judge Lawson’s well reasoned order. Despite GM’s multiple efforts to derail this litigation, we look forward to a jury hearing the overwhelming evidence about issues related to GM’s 8 speed transmissions,” plaintiffs’ co-counsel Ted Leopold of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll told Law360 in an emailed statement Friday afternoon.
The proposed class is represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Gordon & Partners P.A., Berger Montague PC, Capstone Law APC, The Miller Law Firm PC, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP, Keller Rohrback LLP and Pitt McGee Palmer and Rivers PC.