GM OnStar Lawyers Meeting With Judge Today in Lawsuits Over Data Tracking Collection

Thousands of vehicle owners may pursue settlements through GM OnStar lawsuits, after the automaker allegedly sold access to private driving data for years, adversely impacting insurance rates.

As a growing number of GM OnStar data collection lawsuits continue to be filed by owners of Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC vehicles, the U.S. District Judge recently appointed to preside over the claims held a meeting today with lawyers involved in the litigation, to discuss preliminary discovery issues, deadlines for submitting documents, and a proposed schedule for future pretrial proceedings.

OnStar is a subsidiary of General Motors, which provides a variety of in-vehicle services, including automatic crash response, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, navigation and other connectivity features. The service is integrated into new GM vehicles, and marketed as a safety feature that allows owners to access these services through a vehicle-mounted button, voice commands or a mobile app.

However, a report from The New York Times earlier this year suggested that General Motors and OnStar have been collecting driver metrics, such as acceleration, hard braking events, and GPS data, and selling this information to LexisNexis and Verisk. These companies allegedly shared the data with insurance companies for years, which drivers now claim resulted in higher premiums.

As a result, a growing number of individuals are now pursuing OnStar class action lawsuits and individual arbitration claims against the companies, each raising similar allegations that their private driving data was secretly collected without their consent, which was then used against them by insurance carriers.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout federal courts nationwide, Plaintiff Jariya Thongsawang filed a motion to transfer (PDF) on April 5, asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize the claims before one judge for pretrial proceedings in either the Central District of California or the Eastern District of Michigan, where most of the claims at the time had been filed.

In response to the motion, the JPML issued a transfer order (PDF) on June 6, 2024, centralizing the claims in the Northern District of Georgia before the Honorable Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. as part of a Consumer Vehicle Driving Data Tracking Litigation (MDL No. 3115).

The JPML indicated that at the time the order was issued, at least 27 individual and class action OnStar data collection lawsuits had been filed across more than five districts.

However, it is expected that the number of claims filed against the companies could grow exponentially over the course of the next year, as OnStar has become widely available across various GM brand lines, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, all of which come with the option of OnStar services.

Status Conference Agenda for GM OnStar Data Collection Litigation

In a proposed agenda (PDF) for the status conference being held today, the parties are scheduled to discuss a wide range of key issues including a Joint Proposed Report and Discovery Plan, which will involve both parties proposing timelines and preferences for moving the cases forward.

Additionally, preliminary discovery issues will be addressed, focusing on matters like the preservation of documents by third parties and initial discovery orders, which are essential for gathering the necessary evidence to pursue the lawsuits. The plaintiffs have also requested an early opportunity for discovery before any motion to dismiss is considered.

The parties are also scheduled to discuss the handling of potential tag-along actions during the conference. This discussion is critical for understanding how similar cases could influence or expand the current litigation, affecting strategic planning and the management of proceedings.

Finally, the conference will address several disputed topics that have been identified by the plaintiffs and contested by the defendants as being premature. These include discussions on subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and the possibility of arbitration. Each of these issues carries significant implications for how the litigation might proceed and where it might be conducted, as well as the potential for resolving some or all of the disputes out of court.

October 2024 OnStar Data Collection Lawsuit Update

As the parties continue to work through pretrial motions and discovery plans that will shape the progress of the litigation, individuals impacted by data collection practices continue to come forward filing lawsuits or arbitration claims against the companies, seeking damages and compensation.

Earlier this month, the U.S. JPML released an updated docket report indicating that there are now 32 lawsuits currently pending in the Consumer Vehicle Driving Data Tracking Litigation, with many of these seeking class action status to represent millions of potentially impacted customers.

As part of the coordinated management of the litigation, it is expected that Judge Thrash, Jr. will establish a “bellwether” program, where a small group of representative cases will be selected to go through case-specific discovery in preparation for early trial dates, which will help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout various cases in the litigation.

While the outcome of these early trial dates will not be binding on other claims in the litigation, the average lawsuit payouts may influence eventual OnStar class action settlement negotiations that will be necessary to avoid each individual case being set for trial in the coming years.