Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Sears class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Four plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit against Transformco, which owns Sears Roebuck & Co.
- Why: Transformco continues to sell Kenmore refrigerators even though it allegedly knows that they have defective linear compressors that cause them to fail prematurely.
- Where: The Kenmore refrigerators class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.
Certain Kenmore refrigerators have a defective linear compressor that causes them to fail before their promised 10-year life expectancy, a Sears class action lawsuit alleges.
These allegedly defective Kenmore refrigerators “pose unreasonable risks of property damage and personal injury via food-borne illness during normal use,” according to the 54-page complaint.
Plaintiffs James Cristofoletti, Caroline Hatchett, Anthony Latuja, and Dean Nicosia filed the Sears class action lawsuit Mar. 2 against plaintiff Transform SR Brands LLC (Transformco), which owns Sears Roebuck & Co. and the Kenmore brand.
They claim that Transformco has known about the linear compressor defect in the Kenmore refrigerators for several years, but continued to misleadingly advertise the products as reliable.
Linear compressor is critical component in Kenmore refrigerators, Sears class action explains
The Sears class action lawsuit explains that the compressor is a critical component to the operation of a refrigerator and its ability to maintain cool temperatures.
The plaintiffs allege that there are two causes of the linear compressor defect. First, they say that the tubing of the compressor evaporator is prone to corrosion, which can eventually create pinholes through which refrigerant can enter the tubing, putting excess pressure on the compressor and causing it to fail.
Second, the Sears class action lawsuit says the defective compressors have a discharge valve that is weak and prone to fail even with ordinary use.
The allegedly defective linear compressor, which is manufactured by LG Electronics, are found in the following Kenmore refrigerators models: 72372, 72373, 72379, 72482, 72483, 72489, 73055, 73105, 74012, 74012, 74013, 74013, 74015, 74019, 74022, 74023, 74023, 74024, 74025, 74029, 74032, 74033, 74039, 74042, 74043, 74049, 74053, 74063, 75049, 79983, and 79993.
Replacement compressors fail prematurely in Kenmore refrigerators, plaintiffs say
LG reportedly distributes a replacement compressor for these Kenmore refrigerators, but these replacements routinely fail before the industry standard of 10 years, the plaintiffs say.
According to the Sears class action lawsuit, the Kenmore refrigerators come with a one-year express manufacturer’s warranty and a 10-year express manufacturer’s warranty for the linear compressor.
The plaintiffs say that Transformco should have been aware of the compressor defect in Kenmore refrigerators because of numerous consumer complaints. They also note that there have been two class action lawsuits filed over the alleged LG compressor defect, both of which resulted in settlements that excluded Kenmore refrigerators.
However, Transformco allegedly failed to notify consumers about the defect and continued to sell the allegedly defective Kenmore refrigerators.
The Sears class action lawsuit asserts claims for breach of implied warranty of merchantability, violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and violation of various state consumer protection laws.
Last year, a similar Kenmore refrigerators defect class action lawsuit was dismissed.
Did you purchase one of the allegedly defective Kenmore refrigerators? Tell us about your experience in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Jason L. Lichtman, Jonathan D. Selbin, Andrew Kaufman, John T. Nicolaou, and Margaret J. Mattes of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and Joseph S. Tusa of Tusa PC.
The Kenmore refrigerators class action lawsuit is James Cristofoletti, et al. v. Transform SR Brands LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-01318, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
165 thoughts onSears class action claims Kenmore refrigerators failed before warranty expired
We have a 2-year-old Kenmore Elite model # 795.73132.411 that was not keeping food in the freezer frozen and the ice maker wasn’t working. Tech guy determined it wasn’t the compressor but a cooling fan and motor. Replacement was almost $700. Worked for 1 week, now having the same issues. Sears sending repair man out next week. Wife loves the fridge but I refuse to put any more money into it. Next week they will probably tell me its the compressor. We have a pond out back and I told her it will likely make a good raft.
I have the same problem. Have replaced the fan once, and it worked 3 months. Not going to put any more money into this KENMORE fridge. Cheap Chinese junk. Sears has failed me, and the repair man says no recourse that he knows of. 90 fay warranty is not good enough on $600 repair as he predicts the problem will recur.
I need to join this lawsuit for Kenmore refrigerators, on 2 different occasions they have sent out a technician for repair and both times they have failed, I am not getting answers from them as they continue to give me the runaround, please let me know what I should do, I need a working refrigerator ASAP! Is there a number I can call to expedite this? Can I get someone to come pick it up ASAP? Replace it? Please guide me, thank you in advance.
We submitted a claim above. Diane and Ken McDonald. I spelled our name wrong under Ken’s name. Our name is McDonald
This list doesn’t include our Model Number and we have a valid claim too. Our model number is 79573157610 Sears Kenmore Elite. purchased 2016. Compressor went 2 years after purchase 2018. They put in another defective compressor and now it’s gone again, March 2023. Why isn’t our model number listed among these? How do we know that the Class Action Suit is being processed?
The allegedly defective linear compressor, which is manufactured by LG Electronics, are found in the following Kenmore refrigerators models: 72372, 72373, 72379, 72482, 72483, 72489, 73055, 73105, 74012, 74012, 74013, 74013, 74015, 74019, 74022, 74023, 74023, 74024, 74025, 74029, 74032, 74033, 74039, 74042, 74043, 74049, 74053, 74063, 75049, 79983, and 79993.
Less than 4 years old and my Kenmore Elite is not cooling nor freezing. Was diagnosed as a faulty compressor and the repair companies won’t touch it. Says that it’ll happen even with a replacement compressor and they don’t want to be liable for that can of worms. Shoved it to the corner, was forced to buy a new unit to save some of our food yet still lost Hundreds of dollars of food.
Kenmore model 795.7032 purchased 2017 faulty linear compressor
My Kenmore refrigerator made by LG lasted four years, compressor failure.
Same With Us cut Us In we have two of them
I have a Kenmore elite stop working. Not getting cold. No more just happened to all of a sudden
Please open this lawsuit back up. We are hurting.
Model Number 79573157610, Serial #609KR00073, Sears Kenmore Elite French Door Refrigerator.
Bottom line, Transform who is working for Sears gave us an offer. They said that they will reimburse us $1,999.99 with the condition that we purchase another refrigerator from them on th Sears.com site and that we weren’t required to purchase a Kenmore. We looked on the Sears.com site and Sears is asking for double the price, $4,000.00 for the refrigerators that are comparable to the one we purchased. So in effect, we are giving them back the $1,999.99 back. This offer is outrageous and unacceptable.
We paid $2,100 for this refrigerator in 2016. In 2018 the compressor went. 2 years later. It was very difficult to get hold of Sears to fix it. I had to fight, fight, fight. And now here we are again, early March 2023 and the compressor is broken again. Sears could not come out until March 21. We hired a private repair person and he said it’s the compressor and said he has one in the truck but he will not replace it because he knows they are defective. We lost food, MEDICINE, time, energy and caused us stress at a critical time in our lives.
This is unacceptable. We feel forced to go to their site to purchase a refrigerator that cost double. The model above that we purchased in 2016 is 7 years. old. 7 years old and two compressors have failed.
They have filed for bankruptcy and closed the Sears Rockaway NJ store after we purchased this refrigerator.
I thought I saw something about a class action law suit about compressors and Sears’ refrigerators but couldn’t find further information.
We can’t wrap our head around them saying they will give us $1,999.99 toward a new refrigerator but we need to go on their Sears.com site to purchase another. There are no refrigerators that cost less than $4000 that are comparable to the one we purchased in 2016 at Sears for $2,000. They won’t send us a check for $1,999.99 so that we can go to a store and negotiate for ourselves.
Please help us with this. My husband’s cancer has metastases and we don’t have time for this treatment. I recovered from Cancer and the stress of this is what concerns me that it will resurface. The American people are hurting from this unfairness.
Purchased a Kenmore side by side
11-27-2018. It stopped cooling 1-20-2022.
Repair for a new compressor was quoted $1200. Did not repair it.
Model #795.51733.810
I had spent $3k on a beautiful Kenmore elite 3 door fridge when we redid our kitchen. It lasted all of 5 years before the compressor went. We refused to pay the $1k to fix it to just break again. We purchased a new fridge because we felt it was necessary.
Purchased a new Kemore Pro refrigerator (79993) in 2017 and the compressor failed in less than 2 years. They went through 3 brand new replacement compressors before they found one that would work. That one failed before the end of the year of replacement. These things are junk. Cost us $3000 for a refrigerator we had to junk after on 2 years. Spent a lot of money on numerous service calls, not to mention all the missed appointments that they never contacted us to tell us they were not coming. Lost 2 refrigerator/freezers work of food, spent a lot on labor. Service techs all told us Kenmore/LG compressor replacements were 90% of their weekly service calls. Just think about that. Please help!