By Celia Ampel, From Daily Business Review

A Miami federal judge on Wednesday kept alive economic loss claims by vehicle owners against Takata Corp. and Honda over allegedly faulty air bags installed in their cars.

Plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation sued over Takata air bags that used ammonium nitrate. They claim they would not have bought their cars if they knew the air bags might kill or injure them with flying shrapnel, and the stigma attached to the air bags diminished resale values.

The car owners also allege Takata and Honda secretly shared information about air bag deployment injuries and misled regulators about the number of vehicles with allegedly defective air bags and the safety risks they posed.

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno decided the plaintiffs established plausible claims for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

The judge also denied Takata’s motion to strike the putative national class action as premature. Takata argued the court could not evaluate the nationwide claims under the law of one state, and it would be inefficient to apply the laws of 30 states.

The decision followed oral arguments Oct. 23 and said other orders would follow on issues argued the same day.

The economic loss claims are being heard separately from personal injury air bag claims.

Manufacturers named in the lawsuits include BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. Japan-based Takata announced in May that more than 34 million U.S. vehicles would be recalled.

IMAGE: Federico Moreno am holt

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/id=1202743853580/MDL-Judge-Keeps-Alive-Air-Bag-Claims-Against-Takata-Honda#ixzz3tGiGdnSg