Nissan Seeks to Compel 3G Telematics Dispute to Arbitration

The four causes of action plaintiff George Schwarz seeks to assert against Nissan North America arising from his loss of connected vehicle services through obsolete telematics equipment in his Nissan vehicles should be resolved through individual arbitration, said the automaker. Nissan filed a motion Monday (docket 3:22-cv-00933) in U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee in Nashville to dismiss Schwarz's complaint, or in the alternative, to stay the proceedings and compel the dispute to arbitration.

To activate and use the connected services, Schwarz “was required to and did expressly agree” to arbitrate all disputes with Nissan, “including those he now seeks to assert based on the eventual phasing out of the 3G modem technology for this equipment,” said the motion. Amid his “assent to broad and unequivocal terms requiring arbitration of the claims he now attempts, those claims are properly compelled to arbitration,” it said.

The “scope” of the arbitration provision in question “plainly encompasses the allegations” Schwarz seeks to assert under the Federal Arbitration Act, said Nissan. It asks that his claims be compelled to individual arbitration, and his case “be dismissed or, in the alternative, stayed, as a result.”

Relying on what he describes as the “inevitability” of AT&T’s decommissioning its 3G network, Schwarz claims Nissan shouldn’t have sold him a telematics system “that used and relied upon such a network,” said the automaker. Though Schwarz acknowledges AT&T didn’t announce its 3G network would be decommissioned until February 2019, he nonetheless seeks to assert the claims against Nissan “on the theory that Nissan knew or should have known in April of 2016 and November of 2017 that this would occur years later, it said.

On that basis, Schwarz alleges he and the putative class members he seeks to represent were injured by receiving vehicles that were fundamentally different from what they believed they were buying, said Nissan. Because such vehicles relied on technology that AT&T would phase out years later, Schwarz asserts the vehicles were less valuable than was represented, it said.

Nissan’s connected services can’t be accessed or used until a customer first accepts the terms and conditions, including the arbitration provisions, said the automaker. Schwarz bought his Maxima in April 2016 and his Murano in November 2017, it said. Nissan’s records, “kept in the ordinary course of business,” indicate a connected service trial subscription for the Murano was triggered Nov. 4, 2017, it said.

The records confirm the Murano’s account holder accepted the terms and conditions on that date, said Nissan. The trial subscription for the Murano ended six months later, and Schwarz since hasn’t subscribed further to connected services for the Murano, it said. He never subscribed to connected services “specifically for the Maxima,” it said.