Sarah Mirando  |  November 8, 2013

Category: Consumer News

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Samsung washing machine mold class action lawsuitA New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday dismissed part of a proposed class action lawsuit against Samsung Electronics America Inc. alleging the electronics company sold faulty washing machines that left clothes smelling of mildew, in addition to other problems.

U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh said the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently support some of their claims against Samsung, but kept other allegations as well as retained the class claims. Plaintiffs will be allowed to amend the dismissed claims and try them again.

The Samsung washer defect class action lawsuit was filed by Robert Durso, Suzanne Fast, Cathie Coke and Douglas Walker in 2012.

“Plaintiffs claim the Washers fail to adequately clean clothes; do not spin properly; leave clothes and the surrounding area smelling like mold; and leave deposits of pot metal flakes from the drum on clothes,” the judge summarized in his Nov. 6 decision.

The Samsung customers also “assert that Defendant is aware of these and other defects and continues to market, sell and profit from the sale of the Washers.”

The plaintiffs also argue that Samsung did not repair the machines properly to correct the problems during warranty repair.

Judge Cavanaugh said that Durso and Fast, the two New Jersey plaintiffs, claimed that if they knew the Samsung washing machines were defective, they would not have purchased them. Cavanaugh pointed out, however, that they did not adequately explain the difference between the money they lost and what they had expected to get out of it as required by the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

The same goes for Texas plaintiff Coke, who also said she would not have purchased the Samsung washing machine if she had known that she had to use the “heavy duty” cycle, which costs more to run, to effectively clean her clothes. Again, her claim that the washer is worth less than what she paid for it is too vague to make a case to make a case for actual damages under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Judge Cavanaugh said.

The judge also said that the plaintiffs did not “provide any actual factual basis for” the assertion that Samsung was aware of the “alleged defects ‘beginning no later than 2004.'”

In addition, Cavanaugh cites other reasons for dismissing part of the class action lawsuit including the fact that Samsung includes a disclaimer in its user manuals that negates breach of implied warranty claims, the fact that plaintiffs did not file a repair complaint with Samsung within one-year express warranty period, and he disagrees with the plaintiffs that they one year warranty is unconscionable. Therefore, the judge said that their breach of warranty claims were invalid.

However, Cavanaugh did concede to the plaintiffs by dismissing their claims without prejudice, meaning that the problems with their class action lawsuit claims were mostly procedural, and allowing them to file an amended complaint.

He also kept their negligent misrepresentation allegation, saying that the plaintiffs adequately showed “affirmative misrepresentations,” meaning that Samsung did make specific claims about qualities their washers were supposed to have, by showing allegedly false advertisements by Samsung that were key in their decision to purchase the washing machines.

The judge also kept allegations concerning three defects and four of the allegedly defective models, even though Samsung argued that they shouldn’t be included because the plaintiffs didn’t purchase those specific models. Cavanaugh said it was premature to dismiss those from the class action lawsuit.

He also kept the class claims for the same reasons — that it was too early to dismiss the class allegations, although discovery has not been conducted yet and a class certification motion has not been filed.

The plaintiffs are represented by Bruce H. Nagel and Randee M. Matloff of Nagel Rice LLP and by Michael S. Kasanoff.

The Samsung Washer Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Durso, et al. v. Samsung Electronics America Inc., Case No. 2:12-cv-05352, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

UPDATE: The Durso case was consolidated with several other Samsung washing machine class action lawsuits. The consolidated class action lawsuit was dismissed on April 2, 2014.

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19 thoughts onJudge Trims Samsung Washer Defect Class Action Lawsuit

  1. Deva Marcy says:

    We have the wf210anw/xaa and we tried bleach and everything and couldn’t get the mold off and the sad thing is we kept getting error codes as well after having the machine only 6 years and 2 repairs we had to buy a brand new washer and out the money of the washer and the pedestal because it didn’t fit the new washing machine. Very sad..

  2. ALICIA KAY says:

    This washer is nothing but crapity-crap-crap. And believe me, that was the censored version of what I would like to say. We have replaced the pump,the led panel,the rubber seal in the doorand twice this month, the pump quit because of this pot metal. And you say they DISMISSED the case? Seriously??

  3. Angela Long says:

    Our has continuous problems… I found this site tonight while looking up info on why our samsung drain pump more keeps burning up. 2nd one in less than two week. It leaks etc anyway… I guess we all buy a new one. I will never buy an expensive one again.

  4. Donna says:

    I have a washing machine that will not clean my clothes keeps getting error codes what a piece of crap!!!!

  5. ECK says:

    I have a washer/dryer pair and after 4-5 years of use, have had to repair the dryer twice. Now the washer (WF328AA@/XAA) won’t doesn’t spin the clothes dry due to some internal balancing issue. An independent repair company thinks that the tub unit may have to be replaced as he has not been able to determine the problem. Samsung support was of no use either as all they can recommend is send yet another repair technician out. Further, the repair company I engaged has a partner who won’t work on Samsung units as he considers them junk.
    I don’t have the money for a new unit, but I am going to have to purchase one on time since it is costly going out to the laundermat every week.
    There are so many complaints about Samsung washers on the internet. I will never ever buy another Samsung washer/dryer again and advise all others to avoid them as well.

    1. ECK says:

      Correction – Model type WF328AAW/XAA

  6. Uyanga says:

    I bought my washing machine back in 2009 and it worked well until washing machine door rubber ripped off and it started to leak after I used in two years and I tried to call customer service but they told me that warrantee is not covered for door rubber and i was researching it and it seems very common defect for users. I have model number of the WF328AAW XAA

  7. Stefan says:

    MrAugy here and I want to know if anyone has looked into seeing if we could file a class action lawsuit for just the flange problem? I have a Model WF419AAU/XXA-01 Front Loader and a few weeks ago our FLANGE broke. After viewing hours of videos on this, there is the common thread of how the flange is breaking. I ordered new parts to fix the machine, got out the new flange, and noticed what appears to be fractures in the same place where my old one and many of the others I have viewed online have broken. Samsung should replace and fix all of our problems. Ours lasted 3 years, just the two of us, and I figured if I put in the new part it will last about the same. I plan on ordering another one to see if it arrives in the same condition. I understand that the judge dismissed the last lawsuit, but I believe that if we showed this one commonality we could win. Also need to have the metal tested for possible lead contamination.

    1. Bubba says:

      The “Samsung spider flange” issue is ridiculous. My Samsung WF491 washer started having issues recently, and it’s the same thing – a cheap cast-aluminum flange that inevitably corrodes when exposed to the pH of normal laundry detergent. It’s amazing when you see the photos people have taken of these things – they are literally disintegrating. Seems like a high school chemistry dropout could have figured out that was a bad combination.

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