• What happened: Lexington, Kentucky is the latest city to sue Hyundai and Kia for allegedly creating a public nuisance by selling vehicles that are “too easy to steal.”
• Tell me more: As of now, 17 cities have joined federal multidistrict litigation against Kia and Hyundai, including the city of Baltimore.
• Notice a trend? Rather than using existing laws to address the growing increase in crime in their cities, local governments are increasingly teaming up with plaintiff’s firms to file public nuisance lawsuits against legal products and activities across the country. And some are more litigious than others.
• For those keeping score at home, Baltimore has sued:
  • Kia and Hyundai for the public nuisance of car theft;
  • PepsiCo, Frito Lay and others for the public nuisance of litter;
  • ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron for the public nuisance of climate change.
  • 👀 “A municipality’s soft-on-crime policies certainly aren’t the car manufacturers’ fault.” Read more from Sen. Mayes Middleton in the TLR Advocate
• TLR Thoughts: Without legislative action establishing guardrails to help courts determine products and activities to which public nuisance lawsuits do not apply, we can expect to see more and more of these lawsuits filed around the country.

Read the full article here.