5th Circuit Rejects Class-Action Suit that Alleged Autosource Software Undervalued Total Loss Claims
Summary
A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an assertion by the plaintiffs’ attorneys that State Farm’s use of the Autosource Market-Driven Valuation software was improper because it resulted in actual cash value estimates lower than those in the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Official Used Car Guide. The US District Court of Western Louisiana granted a narrower certification that included only those State Farm policyholders whose total-loss claims were valued using AutoSource and received a valuation less than the NADA estimate. In that case, Sampson v. United Services Automobile Association, a putative class of claimants sought to challenge the use of the CCC One Market Valuation Report to determine actual cash value. The same district court judge who cleared the class-action lawsuit in the State Farm case, James D. Cain Jr., had certified a class of plaintiffs in the suit against USAA. The panel said Bourque “picked out NADA and NADA alone” even though “other valuation methods, including (Kelley Blue Book) and others, [are] equally legal and legitimate alternatives.” The panel concluded that Bourque had failed to establish an underlying breach of contract that would qualify as proof of injury to support certification of a class of plaintiffs in the case against State Farm.