Elizabeth J. Cabraser

This year finds Cabraser in a familiar place: In the driver’s seat of a plaintiffs’ litigation team suing automakers over devices that allowed vehicles to spew massive amounts of diesel pollution unbeknownst to consumers or government regulators.

Cabraser was appointed sole lead counsel in a case against Fiat Chrysler, coordinating a nine-lawyer committee pursuing claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, fraud by concealment and implied and written warranties. In re Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep Ecodiesel Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 17-MD-02777 (N.D. Cal., filed July 19, 2017).

Cabraser held the same role in litigation against Volkswagen on the same allegations that “cheat devices” enabled the vehicles to fool emissions testers but then switched off on the roadway, allowing nitrous oxide emissions many times above government limits. In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” MDL, 15-MD-2672 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 8, 2015).

In under a year, settlements totaling $14.7 billion received final approval, and in May, a further settlement of at least $1.2 billion was approved.

Cabraser hopes that because counsel representing Bosch — the company that made software designed to evade emissions — is the same in both cases, similar speed can be achieved in the Chrysler case.

“Judge [Edward] Chen has set a brisk schedule, which we’re happy about,” Cabraser said. “We’ll see what happens. Because many of the lawyers in the case had experience in the Volkswagen case and it’s not new ground, we were able to commit to an expedited schedule and meet it.”

“The people involved in the case, the clients on both sides, want things to happen now,” Cabraser said. “Telling people they have to wait because of litigation just takes time, in the early 21st century, doesn’t hold water.”

Cases such as Volkswagen and possibly Chrysler, where plaintiffs can argue not just for damages but for injunctive relief to change company behavior, are the best cases, she said.

“Injunctive relief is often disregarded because it’s not in dollars, doesn’t have a price tag, but it’s priceless in some cases to be able to prevent harm, when you can say we prevented this many injuries or prevent this many people from being harmed,” Cabraser said.

“Most litigators live for the case that’s not the big-dollar case but where you can prevent harm or injury and recover something meaningful to them.”

— James Getz