Chevy Bolt Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit Nears Settlement

A settlement that will see some people receive $700 to $2,000 each, while the lawyers representing them will receive in excess of $52 million, has received preliminary approval in a class action lawsuit related to defective battery modules used in certain 2017 through 2022 Chevy Bolt EVs.

The suit is itself an aggregate which brings together the plaintiffs from eight different class action suits related to the same problem, CarComplaints has reported.

A Chevy Bolt Defective Battery Fire

The affected Chevy Bolt units had a tendency to catch fire because the South Korean partner of GM, battery maker LG Energy Solution, manufactured defective Bolt batteries. This led to recalls and a variety of fixes in an effort to correct the problem. The lawsuit was filed by the Miller Law Firm, which is also one of the major recipients of the $52 million windfall that it will share with several other law offices.

Many ordinary plaintiffs will not receive anything from the settlement. This is because GM already voluntarily gave many Chevy Bolt EV owners the same things the lawsuit settlement orders. These include replacement of the defective batteries for free, software updates, and payments of up to $1,400 in compensation. The General also bought some vehicles back.

The settlement will see some plaintiffs – those who sold their Chevy Bolt before June 2023 and therefore couldn’t get the $1,400 GM compensation offered at that time – receive $700, while those who held onto the vehicle past that date and failed to successfully claim their compensation from GM’s eReward program will receive $1,400. A list of 30 Bolt owners who actually filed the suit will get $2,000 apiece.

Another class action suit was filed against GM over the Chevy Bolt battery issue in California at the start of 2022. This suit also included the 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV and claims the vehicles are unsafe to drive.

The current Michigan lawsuit, which is approaching settlement, was consolidated from the eight individual lawsuits and allowed to proceed back in October 2022, almost exactly two years ago. A fairness hearing will be held on March 25^th of next year, after which the suit will likely proceed to settlement as described.