Ouch, IMS failure on Ebay

[Perfectlap]

If a high profile enough attorney went after Porsche for this they could force some manner of "master settlement agreement" like the kind that occurred in the Tobacco industry. Everyone said that could never happen in a million years and sure enough Tobacco coughed up $50 billion. Granted bigger numbers were at stake so they thought the case was well worth the fight but still an extraordinary uphill battle since Tobacco had never in its history settled for even a dime. This IMS issue would be a heck of a lot easier.
In the end you don't really need to win the case just create enough bad press that the higher ups decide at a time of low auto sales fighting it would cost them more than addressing the problem on a very small number of cars when you compare Porsche to other auto makers. Also, settlements aren't just limited to cash payouts, they can take any number of forms. Porsche could be forced to provide service and parts instead of paying out cash damages (or sub this work out to indy shops to cut costs). Right now lawyers are starving for work, this being the first time maybe ever that big firms have had to layoff attorneys. Partners are having to take cases they never in a million years thought they would need to take.

If I were a deep-pocketed lawyer fresh off the heels of a big recovery I would definitely think about running an ad in Excellence to go fishing for a class. I'm sure there's a few lawyers out there who own a Porsche or two and would find this case intriguing.

[blinkwatt]

From Dave! on Rennlist;

Here's a youtube clip of an IMS dying--you can hear it come in a little after 1:00 while the engine still has power, but who knows if the engine was already toast at that point. Pretty low quality audio so the sound was probably noticeable sooner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BQ5XAIzNVA

It's kind of painful to watch because you hear the sound come in and he keeps on going and you just know and oh god oh god why isn't he turning the engine off CLACK clunk clunk clunk clunk... ****************.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

If a high profile enough attorney went after Porsche for this they could force some manner of "master settlement agreement" like the kind that occurred in the Tobacco industry. Everyone said that could never happen in a million years and sure enough Tobacco coughed up $50 billion. Granted bigger numbers were at stake so they thought the case was well worth the fight but still an extraordinary uphill battle since Tobacco had never in its history settled for even a dime. This IMS issue would be a heck of a lot easier.
In the end you don't really need to win the case just create enough bad press that the higher ups decide at a time of low auto sales fighting it would cost them more than addressing the problem on a very small number of cars when you compare Porsche to other auto makers. Also, settlements aren't just limited to cash payouts, they can take any number of forms. Porsche could be forced to provide service and parts instead of paying out cash damages (or sub this work out to indy shops to cut costs). Right now lawyers are starving for work, this being the first time maybe ever that big firms have had to layoff attorneys. Partners are having to take cases they never in a million years thought they would need to take.

If I were a deep-pocketed lawyer fresh off the heels of a big recovery I would definitely think about running an ad in Excellence to go fishing for a class. I'm sure there's a few lawyers out there who own a Porsche or two and would find this case intriguing.

Agreed.

There are such things as Rules of Discovery associated with civil suits. Assuming a court was presented with sufficient evidence that a significant enough number of Porsche owners are having the exact same kind of catastrophic engine failure, I could definitely see a judge requiring the company to come forth with pertinent documentation on the matter. It could take a long time, granted. Porsche no doubt has some highly talented lawyers working for them.

There are warranties beyond what’s in writing. Bottom line would be whether a relatively expensive automobile that only runs for a few tens of thousands of miles before dying an ugly death, mechanically speaking, meets the standard of an implied warranty of merchantability that a car company should be held to. With Japanese cars running hundreds of thousands of miles without enormously expensive failures occurring, I suspect a good lawyer could make the case that it does not.

[mptoledo]

Albeit the majority of all cases are settled before a jury trial, I'd hate to think what the average juror would think about us "snobbish" porsche owners crying about something that may or may not be wrong with our cars(especially in this economy). Remember, the average juror is the one isn't clever enough to get out of jury duty. Unless you would be able to present your case in front of a panel or have a single judge hear it. Hell, maybe he has a porsche.

I think the correct angle would be to make porsche real uncomfortable about releasing all the compiled data they have on the IMS and maybe other failures. Its a slim chance, but they may be forced to do a recall/repair in lieu of tarnishing their sacred name. Unfortunately it isn't a life threatening problem, per se, like the Pinto was. Its a numbers game to them, how much would it cost to repair against how much it would cost litigate against!! Boy it's great to feel loved!

[Perfectlap]

^minor point: most civil cases are not settled. Most are either dismissed or dropped by the plaintiff without a settlement offer--they simply cut their losses and move on. From what I've been told by corporate lawyers I know and deal with, probably less than a quarter (roughly speaking) of all cases filed result in the plaintiff getting any money and the number of plaintiffs who win at trial are probably in the single digits. and even then the plaintiff often has to settle with the defendant to avoid a long drawn out appeals process. You have to have a very strong case to stay alive. Probably why the average plaintiffs lawyer earns about what the average electrician makes.

Didn't realize that this thread was about the same car a customer of ours just purchased. It arrived via transport at our facility today. It will be getting a 3.8 liter LN Engineering updated engine and rebuilt gearbox with Guard LSD and should be an absolute rocket.

[jmatta]

The car will live on in grand glory!

I'm starting to think more and more about the IMS update, just to protect my engine long term. Even though the car has only 17k miles, it is not driven that frequently; but when driven, driven fairly hard and to a good operating temperature.

[gschotland]

My '02 S w/68k miles has a "date" with Jake Raby next monday, 10/12, for a clutch and IMS retrofit. I'll let everyone know how it goes.