Woodfin takes on Honda Motors over odometers

Stephen Woodfin, Kilgore attorney, is embroiled in another class-action law suit. This time Woodfin is aligned against Honda with an allegation that the company's vehicle odometers are designed to register mileage at a faster rate than what the vehicle owner is actually using.

According to Woodfin the over-registration of Honda's odometers might be as high as 3.75 percent and the problem with odometers over-registering mileage is that warranties expire sooner and consumers leasing vehicles are forced to pay mileage overages at the end of the lease contract.

Woodfin said the allegation against Honda is a violation of a federal statute that prohibits fraud by odometer.

According to Woodfin, the case began more than three years ago in Arkansas when a vehicle owner approached Fort Smith attorney, Jay Kutchka, with the notion that the Honda Odyssey might have a faulty odometer.

According to Woodfin, Kutchka drove several models of Honda vehicles - including the Odyssey and several others - to test the vehicle's odometers. Woodfin said Kutchka in- corporated a hand-held global positioning system (GPS) to aid in his study and found the problem was consistent in all models.

"If consumers were to drive 100 miles the odometer would register 103," Woodfin said. "The odometer is an electric sensor near the axle that counts revolutions. The only way Honda vehicles could have a common error is if there was a glitch in the computer programing."

Woodfin said when Kutchka was satisfied there was indeed a problem with the odometer readings he contacted David Miller, Dallas attorney and former graduate school classmate.

At Miller's suggestion, Kutchka contacted Henderson attorney James Holmes. Miller had told Kutchka of previous classaction work performed by Holmes.

Holmes, in turn, contacted Woodfin because the two have worked on as many as 20 classaction suits together in recent years.

Woodfin said each attorney works on different aspects of the case and while he and Holmes offer class-action experience and expertise, Kutchka and Miller continue their work on the odometer over-registration study with forensic engineer Michael Leshner, owner of Leshner & Associates, a consulting firm based in Maryland, who taught the group how an odometer works.

Woodfin said six million notices went out informing Honda owners of the pending classaction lawsuit and received a great response and realized a number of people had questioned the odometer registration through the years.

"The suit touched a responsive cord in people," Woodfin said.

According to Woodfin, Honda has never admitted fault.

Woodfin said the company has agreed to a "point of settlement" not to exceed $9.5 million in attorney's fees, $300,000 in added attorney's expenses and an automatic refund to consumers of excess mileage and penalties as a result of odometer readings on Honda financed vehicles.

According to Woodfin, at the end of 2006 the amount of those refunds had reached $6.1 million. Woodfin said the amount will continue to grow until the final hearing, now scheduled for May 30.

Woodfin said consumers who bought Hondas not financed directly through Honda must file to receive a refund.

According to Woodfin all Honda vehicles produced in 2007 - except the Honda Fit - have been outfitted with new and approved odometers.

The Honorable T. John Ward, District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, preliminarily approved the settlement in November of last year.

Ward has set a hearing for May 30, when he will decide whether to give final approval for the settlement. At the same hearing, Ward will consider the fees and expenses for the class counsel.

Woodfin said this final hearing may be postponed by as much as two months.

For more information on the lawsuit visit hondaodometerclassaction. com.