Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging that the defendant’s warranty practices on motorcycles violated multiple provisions of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and various antitrust laws by conditioning warranty coverage on the exclusive use of parts made by the defendant. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim and plaintiffs appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the district court properly dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim where the warranty contained a clear and compliant exclusion provision combined with more general warnings in a separate document, but did not rule out the possibility that a future warranty might combine an express disclaimer with sufficient implied ties that would deceive a reasonable consumer, potentially giving rise to a cause of action. (KOLAR, concurring and LEE, concurring in part and dissenting in part)
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act