Amended Complaint adding LG as a Defendant Filed in Chevy Bolt EV Battery Class Action

On September 17, 2021, the Chimicles Firm and its co-counsel filed an Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against General Motors LLC (“GM”) and added as defendants, LG Chem, Ltd., LG Energy Solution, Ltd., LG Energy Solution Michigan Inc., LG Electronics, Inc., and LG Electronics USA, Inc. (collectively, “LG”). The complaint incorporates multiple, important amendments: First, an additional 12 plaintiffs have been added, representing 3 additional states, all alleging that the Chevy Bolt EV is defective, causing its electric battery to overheat when charged to full or nearly full capacity, which has resulted in devastating fires and created an unreasonable safety risk to these vehicle owners. Second, the amended complaint adds Model Years 2020, 2021, and 2022 Chevy Bolts EVs to the litigation (including existing 2017, 2018, and 2019 models) after GM announced its most recent recall on August 17, 2021 that greatly expanded the number of affected vehicles. Third, the amended complaint also adds LG as defendants asserting allegations, as claimed by both GM and LG, that they were “strategic partners” in researching, developing, and manufacturing the Bolt EV and its critical components, including the defective electric battery cells and pack. GM and LG are said to be working together to replace the defective battery modules, but there has been no meaningful information on timing or details of the purported fix.

As of September 15, GM has begun advising all Chevy Bolt EV owners to park and store their vehicles “at least 50 feet away from other cars to reduce the risk that spontaneous fires could spread.” With this new, added restriction, Plaintiffs allege that the Chevy Bolt EVs are rendered nearly impossible to park safely on any city street, in any residential garage, or in any parking lot or structure, and the owners are left with vehicles that cannot charge at convenient times or locations, cannot reach the advertised driving range, and may spontaneously burst into flames causing serious harm to any person or property nearby.