(Adds comments from company)
By Euan Rocha
TORONTO, July 29 (Reuters) - A Canadian law firm said it
filed a lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) FCHA.MI on
Wednesday seeking $4 billion in damages, in connection with the
massive recall announced by the automaker earlier in July.
ID:nL5N1072Y3
Merchant Law Group said the lawsuit, which seeks class
action status, was filed in the Superior Court in Montreal. It
said it plans to file claims later this week in courts in
Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.
A Fiat Chrysler spokeswoman said the company has not yet
been served with the lawsuit and that it would be inappropriate
to comment until it had studied the allegations in the action.
Milan-listed shares in Fiat Chrysler fell sharply on Monday
and were briefly suspended from trading on worries about the
impact of recalls in the United States announced in recent days.
On Tuesday, they dropped a further 1.64 percent. ID:nL5N1072Y3
The company said on Friday it would recall 1.4 million
vehicles in the United States to install software to prevent
hackers from gaining remote control of their engines.
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The U.S. auto safety watchdog, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), on Sunday slapped a record $105
million fine on Fiat Chrysler for lapses in safety recalls
involving millions of vehicles. ID:nL1N1060HQ
Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt told the CBC earlier
this week that she had been blindsided by Fiat Chrysler's U.S.
recall and added that her department was looking into the
matter.
FCA spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin said most, if not all, the
remedies being pushed out in relation to the U.S. recalls are
now available to FCA vehicle owners in Canada too. She said the
company is advising vehicle owners to schedule appointments with
their dealers for servicing to fix problems.
"FCA Canada is reviewing the contents of the NHTSA consent
order to determine what may potentially apply to Canada. We are
working closely with Transport Canada," said Gosselin.
She added that the U.S. recall of 1.4 million vehicles
because of a software vulnerability that can allow hackers to
remotely gain control of a vehicle is not applicable in Canada,
as its vehicles in Canada are not cellular enabled in the same
manner as some of its U.S. vehicles.
(Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky)