Judge Allows Class Action Lawsuit Against Lenovo Over Two-in-One Computer to Proceed

A federal judge on Monday denied a request from Lenovo to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against it over an allegedly defective two-in-one computer it sold called the Yoga.

Lenovo argued the class action offered little more than speculation that the company knew or should have known the hinged computers would break down before the end of the lifespan it boasted about to consumers. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake disagreed. Based on the fact that Lenovo specifically advertised its Yoga line of devices would last for 25,000 open-close cycles – a number reportedly arrived at through durability testing – Blake said the class action’s allegations met the burden to proceed.

“In this case, the plaintiffs claim they have adequately put Lenovo on notice by pleading the who, what, where, when, and how of the alleged fraud,” Blake wrote in her ruling.

Specifically, the consumers who are suing say Lenovo knew their Yoga computers were built with defective hinges before it sold them, information it withheld from the public. The accusations in the class action lawsuit are being made, according to Blake, “not in a general and conclusory manner, but with at least a baseline level of particularity, alleging that Lenovo knew of the defective hinge system through four sources (durability testing, repair data, replacement data, and consumer reports).”

Customers Neha Singh of Maryland and Sandra Cox of Missouri filed the class action lawsuit in federal court in Washington D.C. on April 27. Both said they purchased models in Lenovo’s Yoga line of two-in-one computers, which were designed to be used alternately as laptops and tablets, depending on the positioning.

The dual-hinge system on the Yoga are key to the two-in-one functionality and Singh and Cox claim theirs broke long before the company advertised they might – but after the one-year warranty offered by Lenovo. Their class action lawsuit accuses Lenovo of violating numerous consumer fraud laws on the state level, in Maryland and Missouri, and federal violations including breach of express and implied warranties, fraudulent concealment and unjust enrichment.

Lenovo’s Yoga 700- series models – 700, 710, 720 and 730 – are the main subject of the class action lawsuit.

Singh and Cox are seeking the court’s approval to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who, like them, purchased Lenovo Yoga two-in-one computers with allegedly defective hinges. They also want to represent two Subclasses, one each in Maryland and Missouri.

Do you have a Lenovo Yoga two-in-one computer? Has the hinge lasted as long as Lenovo’s advertising said it would? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Lead plaintiffs Singh and Cox and the proposed Class Members are represented by James P. Ulwick of Kramon & Graham P.A.; Daniel O. Herrera and Christopher P.T. Tourek of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP; and Matthew D. Schelkopf, Joseph G. Sauder and Joseph B. Kenney of Sauder Schelkopf LLC.

The Lenovo Two-in-One Computer Class Action Lawsuit is Neha Singh, et al. v. Lenovo United States Inc., et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-01082-CCB in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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