FOURTH DIVISION
February 22, 2001
No. 1-99-4079
| TERRY L. HASEK, ALAN BLOCK, | ) | Appeal from the | ||||||||||
| and MITCHELL E. BIANCHIN, | ) | Circuit Court of | ||||||||||
| Individually and On Behalf of All Others | ) | Cook County. | ||||||||||
| Similarly Situated, | ) | |||||||||||
| ) | ||||||||||||
| Plaintiffs-Appellants, | ) | |||||||||||
| ) | ||||||||||||
| v. | ) | |||||||||||
| DAIMLERCHRYSLERCORPORATION, | ) | The Honorable | ||||||||||
| ) | Thomas P. Durkin, | |||||||||||
| ) | Judge Presiding. | |||||||||||
| Defendant-Appellee. | ) | |||||||||||
| ) | ||||||||||||
JUSTICE SOUTH delivered the opinion of the court:
Terry Hasek, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, brought this classaction against DaimlerChrysler Corporation (Chrysler). In their original complaint, plaintiffsalleged that Chrysler's model years 1991-95 Jeep vehicles with 4.0 liter (4.0L) and 2.5 liter (2.5L)engines were defective due to an idle knocking noise in the engine.(1) The original complaintcontained four counts: count I was based on the Illinois Consumer Fraud and DeceptiveBusiness Practices Act (815 ILCS 505/1 et seq. (West 1998); count II was based upon commonlaw fraud; count III was based upon breach of implied warranty of merchantability; and count IVwas based upon a breach of express warranty. Plaintiffs requested a judgment requiring Chryslerto repair or adjust their engines, or pay the dollar amount of such repair or adjustment, or refundthe cost of their warranties.
Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, in which Alan Block and Mitchell Bianchinjoined as additional class representatives. The trial court granted plaintiffs leave to file their fifthamended complaint and dismissed the class-wide claims for breach of implied warranty ofmerchantability and the individual claims of Hasek, Block, and Bianchin for violation of theIllinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act with prejudice.
In their fifth amended complaint, plaintiffs alleged that Chrysler breached its warrantyunder the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) (810 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq. (West 1998)) (count I),and under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C.