KIA Safety Class Actions

Analysis Group was retained by KIA Motors America in three separate statewide class actions involving claims that the brakes on the KIA Sephia were defective, resulting in accelerated brake wear. Analysis Group Senior Advisor Bruce Strombom testified in two of the cases and was deposed in the third, serving as a rebuttal damages expert in all three. Plaintiffs' experts argued that class members were damaged due to increased maintenance costs and accelerated depreciation that depressed resale values. To rebut the claim of accelerated depreciation, Dr. Strombom used Kelly Blue Book and National Automobile Dealers Association data to demonstrate that the depreciation rate of the Sephia was consistent with the rate for other cars within the same class. Dr. Strombom's rebuttal of the increased maintenance cost claim involved identifying a number of flawed assumptions in the plaintiffs' experts' analysis.