Duracell Wants Flashlight Class Action Dismissed

Duracell has requested that a class action lawsuit over allegedly defective flashlight batteries be dismissed.

According to the company, customers should not be able to plea that they relied on a 10-year warranty that the company says does not apply after a battery has been used.

Customers in the Duracell flashlight battery class action lawsuit argued that three models of Duracell LED flashlights’ batteries were defective because they drained in less than a month. Allegedly, this occurred even if the flashlight was turned off.

The Duracell class action asserted that this problem should have been covered by Duracell’s warranty that covers unused batteries. Duracell argued that once the batteries were in the flashlight, they should not be considered unused and should not be covered under the warranty.

Duracell fired back that “per plaintiff’s logic, a car battery is ‘in storage’ when the car is not running, and a battery phone is ‘in storage’ so long as a phone is placed in the ‘off’ position.” According to Duracell, the customers’ claims are “absurd.”

Duracell states that the customers did not describe in specifics what the warranty for the flashlight was. Duracell asserts that the customers only noted that the flashlights were advertised as “free from defects” and claimed that the battery drain was a defect and because Duracell had not issued a recall, Duracell was in violation of warranty.

The Duracell flashlight warranty class action lawsuit was filed by Stanley F. Siddle and Jeff Meeks in January 2019. The customers claimed that Duracell, its parent company Procter & Gamble, its owner Berkshire-Hathaway, as well as retailers Home Depot and Amazon knowingly sold defective flashlights.

The flashlights at issue are Duracell models 250, 300, and 350 LED. Allegedly, these were released into the market in 2014. Allegedly, Technomate manufactured the flashlights, they were packaged with Duracell batteries, and Costco sold them in stores. 

The plaintiffs say the companies knew that the flashlights drained of battery in less than a month, but failed to issue a recall.

The Duracell flashlight class action lawsuit asserts that instead of issuing a recall, Duracell offered replacements to customers, which did not solve the problem.

The Duracell class account lawsuit claims that the flashlights are falsely advertised as having “no battery drain in off position,” and admitted that older models of the flashlight had this problem.

The Duracell battery life class action lawsuit went thorough a number of changes before reaching its current iteration. Notably, Berkshire-Hathaway, P&G, Home Depot, and Amazon were all dropped from the Duracell class action lawsuit before this motion to dismiss. Meeks also withdrew as a plaintiff.

For their part, P&G, Costco, and Pro-Tek filed separate motions to have claims against them dismissed as well.

Siddle is represented by Timothy P. Rumberger of the Law Offices of Timothy Rumberger.

The Duracell Flashlight Battery Class Action Lawsuit is Siddle v. The Duracell Co., et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-00568, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Aug. 20, 2020, Duracell will pay $2.2 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it over claims that the company defrauded customers who purchased some of its LED flashlights.

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