A national class action has been filed in South Carolina against the Kubota Tractor Company. The action is brought on behalf of all U.S. residents or entities (except those residing in Louisiana) who have purchased a Kubota M-8200 or M-9000 tractor within 3 years of February 3, 2004. The action alleges that these tractors contain defective clutch discs and seeks the rescission of the sales of the defective tractors, or in the alternative, the repair and replacement of the clutch discs at no charge to the class members. The action is brought under the Uniform Commercial Code, which is recognized in all states except Louisiana and the laws of negligence.

According to consumers, the clutch discs used by Kubota in the models M-8200 and M-9000 tractors are defective. The consumers claim that the discs fail prematurely and are manufactured using an inferior grade of materials. According to consumers, Kubota is well aware of this problem and circulated a warranty bulletin informing dealers and service departments of this problem on or about March 19, 2002. Under this bulletin, Kubota offered to reimburse dealers for the cost of replacement parts relating to the clutch, but not any labor costs. According to the consumers, all Kubota tractors carry a 36 month or 3,000 hour warranty against mechanical defects.

The consumers allege that by selling new tractors with defective clutch assemblies, Kubota breached the tractors' implied warranty of merchantability under the Uniform Commercial Code. The consumers claim that due to the alleged defective clutch assembly, the tractors would not pass without objection in the trade. The consumers allege that for this reason, they are entitled to either rescind the sale of the tractors and recover full costs plus interest, or are entitled to have the clutches repaired and/or replaced with non-defective parts at the cost of Kubota. The consumers also claim that Kubota's actions amount to common law negligence. The consumers assert that Kubota was bound to provide consumers with a new tractor free of mechanical defects and that Kubota's alleged failure to do so has diminished the value of the tractors. The consumers further allege that Kubota has breached its implied warranty of fitness for a specific purpose by selling tractors that are allegedly not fit for use with the defective clutch assembly. Finally, the consumers assert that Kubota has engaged in unfair business and trade practice violations by allegedly concealing the fact that the tractors had defective clutch assemblies and selling them to the public with indifference to this alleged fact.