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A Volvo hearing loss lawsuit will not proceed in a Tennessee courtroom, at least not against Volvo Car USA.
The products liability lawsuit was filed by Tennessee plaintiff Timothy Zajaros, a movie producer and co-founder of Armory Films who claims the speakers in his 2017 Volvo XC90 damaged his hearing.
According to the Volvo lawsuit, the plaintiff was driving his Volvo XC90 in Nashville on September 13, 2022, when the “speakers emitted a loud, unrelenting, piercing tone that caused him pain and has resulted in permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.”
Having good hearing is a requirement of a movie producer, but Mr. Zajaros complains the speakers caused him a loss of income from his job as a producer. He brought the lawsuit under the Tennessee Products Liability Act for compensatory damages of $10 million and another $20 million for punitive damages.
The plaintiff alleges Volvo Car USA and Volvo Car Corporation (Volvo Sweden) designed, built and sold the XC90 with speakers that emitted sounds that damaged the plaintiff’s hearing.
The harmful sound was allegedly caused by a manufacturing defect and Volvo didn’t warn him about the speaker defects and didn’t try to correct the noise.
The plaintiff initially sued three defendants: Volvo Cars of North America, Volvo Group North America, and Volvo Car USA. The judge dropped Volvo Cars of North America and Volvo Group North America as improper parties. But the plaintiff was allowed to modify his lawsuit to add Volvo Sweden as a defendant.
Volvo Car USA Speaker Lawsuit Dismissed
According to Volvo’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Volvo Car USA shouldn’t even be named as a defendant because the lawsuit fails to “plausibly allege any facts supporting the contention that it manufactured or sold the Car.”
Volvo Car USA references the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency that shows Volvo USA did not manufacture the 2017 Volvo XC90.
Volvo Car USA provided a link to NHTSA’s “VIN Decoder,” and inputting the vehicle identification number shows the plaintiff’s vehicle was built by Volvo Sweden at a plant in Torslanda, Sweden.
Judge Aleta A. Trauger found the plaintiff points to no “non-conclusory allegations” which shows Volvo Car USA manufactured or sold the Volvo XC90 that damaged his hearing.
“The plaintiff’s unsupported statement that he has asserted a cause of action does nothing for his position. The plaintiff does not allege that, for example, while the Car was manufactured by one defendant, the speakers were manufactured by another defendant.” — Judge Trauger
The judge continues:
“In essence, the only fact in support of the claim that Volvo USA had anything to do with the Car is that it has ‘Volvo’ in its name. Moreover, the conclusory allegation that Volvo USA manufactured the Car is identical to the allegations against Volvo Cars of North America, LLC and Volvo Group North America, LLC, two defendants the plaintiff voluntarily dropped from this action.”
The Volvo hearing loss lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville Division): Timothy Zajaros v. Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Car USA LLC.
The plaintiff is represented by Surber, Asher, Surber & Moushon, PLLC, and Spencer Fane LLP.