Common use of RECITALS AND BACKGROUND Clause in Contracts

RECITALS AND BACKGROUND. A. On March 27, 2018, certain of the Settlement Class Representatives filed a complaint against the BMW Defendants and ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ LLC and ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ (together, the “Bosch Defendants”) in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Compl. (Dkt. 1), ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, et al. v. BMW of North America, LLC et al., Case No. 2:18-cv- 04363 (D.N.J.) (the “▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ action”). The complaint asserted claims for violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(C), (D), along with various state law fraudulent concealment claims and claims for violations of various state- law consumer protection laws, and generally alleged that the BMW Defendants defrauded consumers by developing, advertising and selling model year 2009–2013 BMW X5 xDrive35d or 2009–2011 BMW 335d vehicles that were equipped with so-called “defeat devices” that turned off or down emissions controls when the vehicles were in normal operation and not in a regulatory B. On May 8, 2018, a separate complaint was filed against the BMW Defendants and the Bosch Defendants by a group of plaintiffs (including certain of the Settlement Class Representatives) also in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Compl. (Dkt. 1), ▇▇▇▇▇, et al. v. BMW of North America, LLC, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-08935 (D.N.J.) (the “▇▇▇▇▇ action”). C. On August 3, 2018, Plaintiffs’ counsel consolidated the claims asserted in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ action and the ▇▇▇▇▇ action through the filing of a Consolidated Class Action Complaint (the “CCAC”) in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ action (Dkt. 26), and voluntarily dismissed the ▇▇▇▇▇ action. D. On August 17, 2018, BMW NA filed a motion to dismiss the CCAC. (Dkt. E. On June 27, 2019, the Court entered an Order granting BMW NA’s motion to dismiss the CCAC, dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims without prejudice (Dkt. 60). F. On September 20, 2019, Plaintiffs filed the First Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint (the “FAC”), on behalf of forty-three (43) Plaintiffs asserting RICO claims for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(C), (D), along with violations of various state-law consumer protection laws. (Dkt. 65).2 G. On November 6, 2019, BMW NA filed a motion to dismiss the FAC. (Dkt. 68).3 1 At the time the motion was filed, BMW AG had not been served with the CCAC, and thus did not join in BMW NA’s motion to dismiss.