Whirlpool Agrees To $21M Leaky Refrigerator Class Action Settlement

Whirlpool Inc. has reached a settlement worth about $21 million with customers who say that some of the company’s refrigerators possessed a defect in their drain tube which causes freezing and results in water leakage.

Class Members include those who purchased a “French-door, bottom-mount” refrigerator or received one such refrigerator when remodeling a home.

The 1.7 million refrigerators in question are those sold under the Whirlpool, Amana, Jenn-Air and KitchenAid brands.

Of the $21 million, customers’ attorneys are asking for as much as $1.8 million in fees and costs. The lead plaintiff will receive a $5,000 award for her role in the Whirlpool drain tube class action lawsuit.

In addition to the $21 million settlement amount, Whirlpool has agreed to continue its replacement parts program until the end of 2021. Customers who already participated in the program will receive reduced benefits taking into consideration what benefits they had already received.

As benefits to Class Members, the company has agreed to a number of repair scenarios. The company will cover up to $150 in repairs and labor costs for the first three years after purchase, 65 percent of repairs in the fourth year, and 50 percent of costs in the fifth year after purchase.

According to the customers who filed the Whirlpool defect class action lawsuit, the settlement deal was reached after “three rounds of motions to dismiss, formal and informal discovery, and two sessions with different mediators followed by months of negotiations as to the final terms.”

The Whirlpool defective refrigerators class action lawsuit was originally filed in California by Julie Corzine, and was removed to federal court in December 2015.

Corzine claimed that refrigerators made by Whirlpool and Maytag were carelessly designed and as a result, do not operate properly.

She says that she and many other customers were financially injured by the defects because they had to incur costs to replace the drain tubes and repair damages caused by the leaking refrigerators.

Corzine’s Whirlpool class action lawsuit said that the companies had been negligent, breached expressed and implied warranty, and should be held liable for the alleged defects.

Fighting against one move to dismiss, Corzine’s attorney asserted that customers should have a reasonable expectation that a refrigerator should not only keep food cold but should reliably not accumulate ice.

Whirlpool had argued that the refrigerators were not defective because they could be unplugged to keep them from accumulating ice.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Corzine is represented by Graham B. LippSmith, Celene Chan Andrews, Jaclyn L. Anderson, Frank A. Perez, and Scott J. Thomson fo Kasdan LippSmith Weber Turner LLP.

The Whirlpool Refrigerator Drain Tube Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Julie Corzine v. Maytag Corp., et. al., Case No. 5:15-cv-05764, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
UPDATE: September 2019, the Whirlpool leaky refrigerator class action settlement is now open.Click here to file a claim.

Read More Lawsuit & Settlement News:

Luxottica Will Settle Contact Lens Antitrust Class Action

Is Essure Recalled?

LaCroix Class Action Says Sparkling Water Flavoring is 98% Synthetic

What Is Hernia Mesh Migration?