A California labor law class actionlawsuit has been filed against CaliberCollision by mechanics who allegethey were not paid for all the hoursthey worked.

Filed by lead plaintiff SamuelCastillo, the lawsuit alleges CaliberBodyworks of Texas Inc., which oper-ates the chain Caliber Collision, paysits mechanics on a piece-rate systemfor each task they perform, and thatthe workers are assigned piece-ratehours per tasks, regardless of the timeit actually takes them to perform.Castillo claims he recorded the hourshe worked, but Caliber only paid himunder the piece-rate system.

“As a result, defendants did notpay plaintiff for all hours worked atthe minimum wage, as defendantsfailed to pay plaintiff for nonproduc-

tive hours, i.e., hours that he was notperforming piece-rate work,” thecomplaint states.

Further, the lawsuit contends thatCastillo worked for Caliber from 2007through to the end of January 2014,classed as a nonexempt technicianunder the piece-rate system. Accord-ing to the suit, under Caliber’s paysystem, if a task were assigned a valueof 0.8 hours, the mechanic would bepaid for 0.8 hours of work, regardlessof whether the task took 10 or 90 min-utes to perform.

According to the suit, the methodCaliber uses of meeting their minimumwage obligations, dividing daily piece-rate earnings by daily hours worked,violates California labor law. The suitalso alleges Caliber paid Castillo

by: Victoria Antonelli, Online Editor

The cascading number of vehicle re-calls caused by defective Takataairbags has been making front page

news from 2008 to the present day.During that time, automakers have re-called about 17 million vehicles withairbags that can rupture when de-ployed, producing fragments that cankill or seriously injure motorists.

In the latest action, Honda haslaunched a multi-million dollar print,digital and radio advertising campaignon March 16 to urge Honda and Acuraowners to check for open recalls andcomplete airbag inflator repairs.

“The goals of this campaign are tosave lives and prevent injuries,” saidJohn Mendel, Executive Vice Presi-

by Samantha Weigel,San Mateo Daily Journal

The owners of a long-standing familyauto body shop are alleging the city ofSan Mateo has violated their civilrights after they were ordered to fixcode violations while city officialslooked the other way for nearby busi-nesses.

Sean and Jill Hudson, owners ofHudson Automotive at 186 SouthBlvd, claim the city violated their firstand 14th amendment rights after theyspoke out against the city’s attemptsto crack down on South ClaremontStreet automotive repair shops in late2012 and have since been ordered totake down infrastructure vital to their

business.City officials disagree, claiming

they are simply responded to specificcomplaints about Hudson and conse-quentially filed a suit in San MateoCounty Superior Court last Septemberseeking the company remove two out-door automotive lifts—which theHudsons claim have been there sincethe 1970s—and create six parkingspaces for customers.

San Mateo officials have a his-tory with automotive repair shop own-ers in the South Claremont Street andRailroad Avenue area after they at-tempted to crack down on numerouscode violations but were met withupset owners who questioned why

City of San Mateo at Odds with Local Body Shop

Takata Responds to Pressure from NHTSA, Honda’sConsumer Education Campaign, Recyclers Respond

See Caliber Auto Mechanics, Page 16

See City, Shop at Odds, Page 8

See Takata Takes Steps, Page 12

Caliber Auto Mechanics File CA Wage & HourClass Action Suit

Photo Credit: 5newsonline.com

by Ed Attanasio

With the California Autobody Associ-ation’s (CAA) upcoming annual Leg-islative Day happening on April 14 inSacramento, CA, body shop ownerswill once again converge at the StateCapitol to meet with their legislatorsand discuss issues that affect the col-lision industry.

As an attorney/lobbyist practic-ing for over two decades at the Cali-fornia State Capitol, Jack Molodanofis frequently asked: “Can one personreally make a difference?” And his re-sponse is always an emphatic “Yes!”

“Not only can one person make adifference, but one person can alsomake others change their perception ofan issue,” Molodanof explained. “Youhave the power in that you have first-hand experience as it relates to issuesthat are most important to you. Let thelawmakers know how you feel aboutthese issues. You must be heard tomake a change.”

To open every CAA Legislative

Day, Molodanof briefs the membersin attendance about the best ways toget results from their local legislatorsand here are some of these:

Do Your Homework FirstFirst off, do you know the names ofyour local legislators? If not, it’s veryeasy to find out by going to www.le-galifno.ca.gov. Learn about their back-grounds and maybe more importantly,learn how to pronounce their names. Ifyou live in Santa Cruz and your assem-blyman’s name is Mark Stone that’sno problem, but what about if you’refrom San Luis Obispo and your assem-blyman’s name is Katcho Achadjian?If and when you’re able to meet yourlegislator, mispronouncing their nameis definitely not a great way to start anyconversation.

In addition, try to learn some otherinteresting things about your local leg-islators—including their political affil-iations and the names of their keyassistants, for example. It’s also very

See How to Get Things Done, Page 26

CAA Lobbyist: How Things Get Done at the Capitol

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VOL. 33 ISSUE 4APRIL 2015

dent of the Automobile Division ofAmerican Honda Motor Co., Inc.“Honda hopes that this new consumerinformation campaign will bolster ourexisting and continuing efforts to reachour customers and maximize the vehi-cle repair completion rates associatedwith recalls to replace Takata airbag in-flators. These ads are a strong call toaction from our company designed tobreak through the clutter, grab the at-tention of customers driving affectedvehicles, and urge that they get re-quired repairs as soon as possible.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary An-thony Foxx announced in a press re-lease on February 25 that the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) has ordered Takata to pre-serve all air bag inflators removedthrough the recall process.

The airbags will be used as evi-dence for both NHTSA’s investigationand private litigation cases. The orderalso ensures the regulators’ access toall data from the testing of those re-moved inflators.

“This department is focused onprotecting the American public fromthese defective air bags and at gettingto the bottom of how they came to beincluded in millions of vehicles on U.S.roads,” Foxx said. “This preservationorder will help us get the answers weneed to accomplish those goals.”

Foxx also announced that NHTSAwill upgrade the Takata investigation toan engineering analysis, which willhelp determine the actual cause of theair bag failures, and what the next stepwill be. It will also establish whetherTakata’s refusal to notify the agency ofa safety defect violates federal safetylaws or regulations.

In 2014, five automakers—BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda andMazda—launched national recalls fordefective driver-side air bags afterpressure from NHTSA.

Those five, plus General Motors,Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toy-ota, are recalling vehicles for defec-tive passenger-side air bags in areas ofconsistently high absolute humidity,which is believed to be a factor in theruptures.

Most of the recalls are for variousmodel years varying from 2000 to 2007,according to a Takata Corp. representa-tive.

Automakers have announced

plans to form a testing association, andprivate plaintiffs have sought access toinflators in federal court to conducttheir own tests. NHTSA has also hiredan outside expert on the use of propel-lants.

“There is a strong public safetyinterest in ensuring that testing movesforward, and that NHTSA has accessto all test data,” NHTSA Administra-tor Mark Rosekind said. “We haveworked closely with attorneys for pri-vate plaintiffs to construct this orderso that it protects plaintiffs’ legalrights while also supporting our ef-forts to protect public safety.”

On Feb. 20, the NHTSA began en-forcing $14,000 a day in civil penaltiesagainst Takata for failure to respond torequests for information about morethan 2.5 million pages of documents ithas produced under NHTSA orders.

On March 2, 2015, the Takata Cor-poration convened at a meeting inMichigan to discuss the Japanese airbagmanufacturer’s next steps.

Engineers from its automaker cus-tomers, including independent OEMassociation engineers, were updated ontesting into the root cause of recentairbag inflator issues. The engineerswere also provided with a presentationby an expert from Germany’s Fraun-hofer Institute, which is supplying in-dependent research to determine theroot cause of the airbag inflator fail-ures.

Shigehisa Takada, Chairman &CEO of Takata, stated, “While thetesting by Takata and research by theFraunhofer Institute continues, anddefinitive conclusions have not yetbeen reached, the work so far has sup-ported our initial analysis that age andlong-term exposure over a period ofmany years to a climate of persistentheat and high absolute humidity aresignificant factors in the small numberof inflators that have malfunctioned.Variability in vehicle makes and mod-els is an additional factor indicated bythe testing results thus far, and Takataalso continues to consider variabilityin the inflator manufacturing process

as a potential contributing factor.”Takada added, “We are continuing

testing and research and will continueto work openly and transparently withour OEM customers and to do every-thing we can to support the replacementof all the airbags covered by the au-tomakers’ recalls and safety campaigns.The safety of the driving public is ournumber one priority and we are com-mitted to do what it takes to achievethis.”

Takata has dramatically increasedthe production of airbag replacementkits in support of automotive recallsand safety campaigns. The companyhas increased production capacity to450,000 replacement kits per month,up from 350,000 in December, and ex-pects to be producing approximately900,000 kits per month by September2015.

The company remains confidentthat newer inflators and those not ex-posed to prolonged humidity and heatare safe. Takata also is working withother suppliers to further increase theavailability of replacement kits for itsautomotive customers.

Recent Background on the Takata Corp.Airbag Recalls

A 2012 NHTSA-sponsored surveystudy found that 21 to 25 percent ofthe problems covered by recall noticesbetween 2006 and 2010 remain un-re-paired. There are 36 million cars onthe road that have uncompleted recallwork, according to Carfax.

In October and November 2014,multiple lawsuits were filed across thecountry concerning Takata airbag re-calls.

The Law Offices of Jason Turchinin Ft. Lauderdale, FL announced in apress release on October 24, 2014 that alawsuit had been filed on behalf of anaccident victim allegedly injured by anexploding airbag.

Nunez, a Miami Gardens, Floridaresident, was driving her car when shewas involved in an accident. As a resultof the impact, her airbag deployed buta piece of metal allegedly shot throughher airbag and struck her in her fore-head, narrowly missing her eyes.

The airbag that failed was allegedlydesigned and manufactured by Takatafor use by Honda. The allegationsagainst the airbag manufacturer includethat Takata failed to properly design, testand manufacturer its airbag unit. It isalso claimed that Honda breached sev-eral duties it owed to Nunez and the

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Continued from Cover

Takata Takes Steps

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public in general.“The biggest concern we have is

that a driver doesn’t know if his or herairbag is faulty until the moment of im-pact, and by then it is too late,” saysJason Turchin, lead attorney in the case.

Turchin and his law firm are cur-rently representing several other victimsallegedly injured by defective airbags.

On November 4, another class ac-tion complaint was filed in the SouthernDistrict of Florida that alleges Takata,Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co.and others “knew or should have knownthat the Takata air bags installed in mil-lions of vehicles were defective.” Thecomplaint seeks compensation for anyconsumer who purchased or leased a ve-hicle involved in the Takata airbag re-call announced earlier that month.

A third Takata airbag lawsuit wasfiled at the beginning of November inCalifornia by five individuals who ei-ther purchased or leased BMW, Hondaand Toyota cars that plaintiffs claimare unsafe because of Takata airbags.

The Takata airbag recall lawsuitalleges that Takata and other defen-dants “did not fully investigate or dis-close the seriousness of the issue andin fact downplayed the widespreadprevalence of the problem.”

In November 2014, the Associ-ated Press reported that at least fourdeaths in U.S. auto accidents havebeen tied to defective Takata airbags.

Reuters reported earlier thatmonth that Takata was targeted by theU.S. Attorney’s Office for the South-

ern District of New York. The officialswere trying to determine if the Japan-ese company misled U.S. regulatorsabout the number of defective air bagsit sold to automakers.

On November 22, the Law Of-fices of Jason Turchin announced in apress release that a fourth lawsuit hadbeen filed in Florida on behalf of an ac-cident victim injured by an explodingairbag. The lawsuit alleges that South

Florida resident Claudia Jana was thedriver of a 2001 Honda Civic who wasinjured when the passenger airbag ex-ploded after an accident and a piece ofshrapnel caught fire and landed on her.The lawsuit also alleged that the pas-senger airbag unit also detached fromthe dashboard and propelled into therear passenger seat of the vehicle.

The airbag that failed was allegedlydesigned and manufactured by Takatafor use by Honda. The allegationsagainst the airbag manufacturer includethat Takata failed to properly design, testand manufacturer its airbag unit. It alsoclaimed that Honda breached severalduties it owed to Jana and the public ingeneral.

“This is the second Honda Civiclawsuit involving a 2001 model andthird airbag shrapnel injury claim thatour office filed recently,” said JasonTurchin, lead attorney in the airbaglawsuit.

Turchin hopes the lawsuit willget answers as to what is causing theairbag defects, and to compel produc-tion of safer airbags. “These airbaglawsuits are not just about money. Wewant answers,” added Turchin.

December 1, 2014 was the dead-line that the NHTSA set for Takata

Corp. to respond to its request for doc-umentation and other information, ac-cording to the Detroit Free Press.

The NHTSA said in a press re-lease that it was “demanding” the au-tomakers to provide the informationto “compel Takata and the affected in-dustry to be frank with not onlyNHTSA, but the American public”about when they discovered that theairbags were subject to rupturing, andwhy it was not reported sooner. Theagency also ordered Takata to provideinformation on what type of propel-lant it uses in its inflators becauseTakata publicly stated it recentlychanged the chemical mix of itsairbag inflator propellant in the newlydesigned inflators.

By the deadline, Takata was alsosupposed to give the public a timeframe for when safe inflators wouldbe made, and when air bags would bereplaced in the nationwide recall of7.8 million vehicles.

The airbag recall was initially lim-ited to Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaiiand the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas withabove-average humidity. However, therecall went nationwide after cases werediscovered in Arizona, California, Min-nesota and North Carolina.

14 APRIL 2015 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Hiroshi Shimizu, senior vice president of globalquality assurance at Japanese air bag makerTakata. Photo Credit: www.ideastream.org

Court documents indicate thatplaintiffs in five class-action airbaglawsuits filed since October 2014against Takata Corp. have asked a panelof federal judges to transfer the lawsuitsto the U.S. District Court, Southern Dis-trict of Florida. The plaintiffs also re-quested that the actions be consolidatedfor pretrial proceedings.

According to the plaintiffs’ mo-tion to the U.S. Judicial Panel of Mul-tidistrict Litigation (JPML), the firstclass action lawsuit proceedings arefurther along than the four other class-action lawsuits pending in Californiaand Michigan.

On December 2, 2014, CNN-Money reported that Chrysler jumpedon the recall train after the NHTSA or-dered the manufacturer to start recall-ing its cars with the exploding Takataairbag inflators. The federal safety reg-ulator was “extremely concerned”about the automaker’s “slow pace of therecall.” In its response to the NHTSA,Chrysler conducted a regional recall,and started contacting its customers onDecember 8, 2014.

Chinese authorities stated on De-cember 16, 2014 that Honda MotorCo. and its two joint ventures in Chinawould recall 569,769 cars due to po-

tentially defective air bags, Reuters re-ported.

The recalls in China were also im-plemented due to the risk that “frag-mented shards” could fly from thedeployed Takata airbags, potentiallyinjuring or even killing motorists.

Vehicle regulators in the UnitedStates issued a warrant on January 29,2015 for whistleblowers with knowl-edge “of possible defects or any wrong-doing” by Takata Corp.

The NHTSA stated in a pressrelease that it was urging potentialinformants to call its hotline at 1-888-327-4236, promising legal pro-tection.

“We encourage all individualswith information about the manufactureor testing of Takata air bag inflators, orwho have knowledge of possible de-fects or any wrongdoing by the com-pany, to make this information availableto NHTSA,” agency spokesman Gor-don Trowbridge said.

Six former Takata employees in-terviewed by Reuters said they wereasked to hide or alter data that showedcertain parts and materials did notmeet Takata’s specifications or indi-cated potential issues with key com-ponents such as inflators and cushions.

Two of these employees said theywitnessed others hiding, altering or ig-noring unfavorable test results.

Company officials testified in 2014at two U.S. congressional hearings, andthe Japanese safety equipment maker re-mains the subject of at least two federalinvestigations, and the target of dozensof lawsuits.

After being asked to comment onthe whistleblowers, a representative ofthe airbag manufacturer said in a state-ment, “Takata has a deep commitmentto honesty and integrity. Since ourfounding in 1933, we have workedtirelessly to develop innovative andhigh-quality products that exceed our

customers’ expectations, save livesand prevent injuries. Our number onepriority is the safety of the travelingpublic.”

Most former Takata employeeswho spoke with Reuters did not wantto be named while discussing inci-dents and situations of a sensitive na-ture. But they related similar or sharedexperiences at Takata facilities inWashington, Georgia, Michigan andNorth Carolina.

Two former Takata employees,Mark Lillie and Michael Britton, havespoken to the New York Times, andLillie also spoke to congressional in-vestigators about their concerns withthe safety of propellant manufacturedin a Takata facility in Moses Lake,Washington. The propellant was usedto create the gas that inflates air bagsin case of a crash.

In interviews with Reuters, Lillie,a chemical engineer who is now re-tired and living in New Mexico saidhe left the company before it beganmanufacturing a new, more volatiletype of chemical propellant, ammo-nium nitrate. Lillie said some Takataengineers thought the material was notthoroughly tested to make sure it wassafe. He left the company in 1999.

www.autobodynews.com | APRIL 2015 AUTOBODY NEWS 15

Photo Credit: www.baronandbudd.com

“I literally said if we go forwardwith this, someone will be killed,” Lil-lie told Reuters. “I couldn’t in goodfaith pump this stuff out believing thatit was unsafe to put in front of a pas-senger in a car.”

Ammonium nitrate was the princi-pal propellant chemical used in hundredsof millions of Takata inflators madesince 2000, including those installed inmore than 24 million cars recalled in theUnited States, Japan, China and otherglobal markets.

Britton described an incident inthe late 1990s where a test batch of ex-perimental propellant that had notbeen validated by Britton’s technicalgroup was used without his knowledgein production. This occurred becausethe company was running out of ap-proved material.

Even though it had not beenproven that the propellant would re-main stable over the expected vehiclelifespan, it was still used in inflatorsthat wound up in customers’ cars, Brit-ton said. He added that he was not ableto get the inflators recalled from thecustomer.

Britton, in an email on January 29,2015, said investigators from NHTSAand the Department of Justice have notcontacted him. Lillie said on the sameday that he has not been contacted by

federal officials, either.Takata did not address specific

allegations made by Lillie, Britton orother former employees.

On February 10, 2015, the Auto-motive Recyclers Association (ARA)announced the filing of a class actionlawsuit against Takata Corp, relatingto the massive recall of vehicles con-taining defective airbags manufac-tured by the Japanese company.

The ARA brought the class ac-tion on behalf of those who operateprofessional automotive recyclingfacilities in the United States whohave purchased for resale any of thevehicles containing un-deployed andallegedly defective airbags manufac-tured by Takata.

The complaint alleges that Takataand the Auto Manufacturers misledAutomotive Recyclers about the safetyand reliability of the allegedly defec-tive airbags.

According to the complaint, Takatawas aware of the airbag defect as farback as 2004 when it conducted ‘secrettests’ on several airbags.

It also states that following thedisclosure of the airbag defect, theAutomotive Recyclers are not able tosell or trade these airbags becausethey are valueless.

The ARA alleges that it and the

Automotive Recyclers had an expecta-tion that Takata and the Auto Manu-facturers would disclose known defectsin a timely manner to abide federal,state and common law.

The failure to properly disclosethe defect caused the Automotive Re-cyclers to purchase vehicles containingthe Takata airbags for amounts greaterthan their worth.

“Right now, 49 states allow for thesale of recycled, non-deployed OEMairbags,” ARA CEO Michael E. Wil-son told Autobody News. “New York iscurrently the only state in the countrywhere professional automotive recy-clers are unable to sell recycled, non-de-ployed OEM airbags.”

Wilson added, “The AutomotiveRecyclers Association supports onlythe reutilization of the recycled non-deployed OEM airbag module. ARAhas a protocol for the use of originalequipment non-deployed airbags,ARAPro, which provides guidelinesfor the practice of removing an OEMnon-deployed airbag, including rigor-ous inspection, documentation, stor-age, audit procedures.”

As of March 2015, evidence showsthat at least six motorists have beenkilled by defective Takata airbags.

16 APRIL 2015 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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nondiscretionary bonuses and otherforms of compensation that aren’t ex-cludable from the regular rate of pay.

“Despite defendants’ payment ofincentive pay to plaintiff, defendantsfailed to include all forms of incentivepay when calculating plaintiff’s regu-lar rate of pay, thereby further causingplaintiff to be underpaid all of his re-quired overtime wages,” the complaintstates.

Castillo alleges that he regularlyworked in excess of eight hours perwork day and over 40 hours each week,without receiving overtime compensa-tion. Further, because the companyonly pays its workers in the piece-ratesystem, it also fails to maintain anycompensation system for compensatingrest periods.

“As a result of defendants’ fail-ure to pay all overtime and minimumwages, defendants maintained inaccu-rate payroll records and issued inac-curate wage statements to plaintiff,”

the suit states.Finally, the lawsuit contends that

Caliber requires its mechanics to buytheir own tools that are necessary toperform their job duties, without reim-bursing the workers for the cost of thetools.

California Labor Code section2802 requires employers to indemnifyemployees against all “necessary” ex-penses, including the costs of toolsneeded to perform job duties. If theemployer is already supplying the“necessary” equipment, there is noduty to reimburse for buying superioror superfluous equipment.

The employment class action isseeking certification on behalf ofclasses of workers denied minimumwage, overtime hours, expense reim-bursements and more.

The plaintiff is represented by PaulK. Haines and Fletcher W. Schmidt ofBoren Osher & Luftman LLP.

The suit is Castillo et al. v. Cal-iber Bodyworks of Texas Inc. et al.,case number BC572767, in the Supe-rior Court of the State of California,County of Los Angeles.

Continued from Cover

Caliber Auto Mechanics

by Ryan Severance, The Pueblo Chieftain

The Pueblo Police Department inCO and local auto repair shops areteaming in an effort to help solve hit-and-run crimes.

The initiative—dubbed thePueblo Auto Body Alert Program—resembles a program started by theDenver Police Department last year.

It creates a partnership with au-tomotive repair professionals to as-sist with identifying hit-and-rundamaged vehicles, according to a re-lease the police department sent out.

Through the program, auto re-pair shops will receive email and/orfax transmissions from the police de-partment traffic section/hit-and-rununit when they are investigating hit-and-run accidents. Police will pro-vide as much detailed informationpossible about the vehicle they areattempting to locate.

Repair professionals can call thepolice department’s non-emergencynumber at 719-553-2502 or call the hit-and-run unit directly at 719-553-2521or 719-553-2536. They can also emailpuebloautobodyalert@pueblo.us.

Thank you to The Pueblo Chief-tain for permission to use this article.

CO Police Devise Plan to HaltHit-and-Runs with Body Shops