Elizabeth J. Cabraser

Cabraser holds lead roles for the plaintiffs in three major automotive multidistrict consumer class actions against Volkswagen AG, General Motors LLC and Takata Corp., the airbag manufacturer. "It's been all cars all the time for me this year," she said.

In litigation over the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer is expected to give final approval Oct. 18 for a $15.3 billion settlement over the auto maker's 2.0-liter vehicles that includes repairs, payouts to owners, and environmental remediation. "Judge Breyer has ordered us into intensive negotiations over the three-liter vehicles," Cabraser said. "We're to report back Nov. 3. If there's no settlement, there will be an expedited trial in 2017." In re: Volkswagen "Clean Diesel" Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 15-md-2672 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 8, 2015).

Cabraser has been impressed by the speed with which the judge has moved the case. "The court has pushed it. Judge Breyer tells us to hurry up. There's ongoing harm to the environment and to consumers. It demonstrates that complex litigation can move quickly if a court wants it to. Lawyers may have to jettison the notion that cases like this should move slowly. Time is money. Lawyers are risk-averse and speed can be scary, but the public has an interest in speed and efficiency. It takes a court's energy and desire to get lawyers to step outside their comfort zone."

The plaintiffs' case over General Motors ignition switch defects stalled and revived over the defense contention that the auto maker's 2009 bankruptcy barred some claims, a stance that suffered a setback in July when the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected it, leaving GM to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. "That complicates things, but we are moving through discovery," Cabraser said. "We'll be filing our fourth amended class action complaint in October. There will be appellate activity over the next year as we move the case forward." In re: General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, 14-md-2543 (S.D. N.Y., consolidated June 9, 2014).

Cabraser spoke a few days after the case of Takata's air bags took a deadly out-of-court twist as a truck carrying its inflators and an explosive chemical detonated in Texas, killing a woman in a nearby house and injuring four others. Claims over the volatility of the airbags and their tendency to rupture catastrophically have been at the heart of the class action. "Ironic in the darkest sense," Cabraser said of the truck blast. "We were just flabbergasted. I never heard of a defective car part killing someone in a home." The case is in the discovery phase. In re: Takata Airbag Product Liability Litigation, 15-md-2599 (S.D. Fla., filed Feb. 18, 2015).

— John Roemer