City Lawsuit

When we first heard this, we were cynically amused that BJ is trying to distract from his so-far useless administration's first one-hundred days:

• Mayor Brandon Johnson announced today that the City has filed a civil lawsuit against Kia America, Inc., Kia Corporation, Hyundai Motor America, and Hyundai Motor Company for their failure to include industry-standard engine immobilizers in multiple models of their vehicles, resulting in a steep rise in vehicle thefts, reckless driving, property damage, and a wide array of related violent crimes in Chicago.

  The complaint, which was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, alleges that Kia and Hyundai failed to equip their U.S. cars, sold between 2011 and 2022, with vital anti-theft technology, which almost all other car manufacturers made a standard feature over a decade ago and which Kia and Hyundai include in their vehicles sold outside of the country. The Complaint alleges that Kia and Hyundai deceptively assured consumers that these vehicles possessed “advanced” safety features, despite knowing about this critical defect and its consequences.

So the basis is deceptive advertising? That Kia and Hyundai didn't include a non-required piece of equipment that didn't affect safety at all? How many Kias/Hyundais does the city own? Oh, they're trying to recover costs from having to...enforce the law? What?

That sounds like a non-starter we told ourselves.....until we read this:

• Kia and Hyundai have agreed to a class-action lawsuit settlement worth about $200 million over claims that many of the Korean automakers' cars are far too vulnerable to theft, according to lawyers for the companies and the owners.

  The settlement covers some 9 million owners of Hyundai or Kia vehicles made between 2011 and 2022 and have a traditional "insert-and-turn" steel key ignition system, lawyers for the owners said in a press release on Thursday.

  Compensation to owners includes up to $145 million in out-of-pocket losses that will be distributed to people who had their vehicles stolen. Affected owners can be reimbursed up to $6,125 for total loss of vehicles, and up to $3,375 for damages to the vehicle and personal property, as well as insurance-related expenses.

Kia and Hyundai were trying to settle? For $200 million? Again, for a non-required piece of equipment that didn't cause a single crash, injury or fatality by its non-inclusion. We're not talking about design flaws, tearing seat belts or Pinto gas tanks.

So now we don't know if BJ is some kind of legal savant or what. But oh no! A judge has refused to approve the settlement:

• The proposed settlement would offer vehicle owners cash payments for theft-related damage and a voluntary recall to update theft-protection software. But U.S. District Judge James Selna raised concerns about the process for calculating payments and the adequacy of the software update in preventing future thefts.

As usual, the only ones getting rich are the lawyers.