Judge Dismisses Garmin Class Action over GPS Battery Life

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A Kansas federal judge put an end to a proposed class action lawsuit that accused Garmin International Inc. of selling navigation units with faulty lithium-ion batteries.

Plaintiff Brian Meyers initially filed the lawsuit against Garmin in 2013, alleging the batteries in its GPS navigation units fail prematurely and forces consumers to buy expensive replacement batteries in order to operate their units. Meyers also claimed that Garmin refused to replace the batteries even when the product was still covered under its warranty.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia ruled that Meyers’ claim for willful omission under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act could not survive because problems with the unit were connected to Illinois, and had no connection to Kansas.

Meyers purchased his navigation unit in August 2011 for $259.99, and in December 2012, he says he noticed the battery life in the unit was getting shorter. The battery initially lasted for a few hours but was down to 30 minutes use time a year later. Upon contacting Garmin’s customer service department, he was allegedly told the company would not replace the battery, even though it was under warranty, but they could ”overhaul” his Nuvi for a service fee of $120.

“Plaintiff telephoned J&R, which is a dealer located in New York, to order the Nuvi 2460, which plaintiff received and registered in Illinois. Plaintiff experienced his first alleged battery failure in Illinois, and subsequently contacted defendants while in Illinois after the one-year warranty period,” Judge Murguia stated. He said that the purchase “was not a consumer transaction within the state of Kansas.”

Garmin was successful in having the case dismissed at its request and had claims for deceptive practices and unconscionability, breach of express and implied warranties as well as claims for unjust enrichment all dismissed because Meyers did not oppose them.

Garmin was unsuccessful at a previous attempt to dismiss the suit in January 2014 and stated that because Meyers purchased the product in another state through an authorized dealer that Garmin was not responsible for what happened as a result of the transaction. Judge Murguia ruled that the transaction was consumer-from-buyer in nature, and that Garmin could be responsible for the product failure.

At that time, Judge Murguia allowed the breach of express warranty claim to continue but did toss Meyers’ bid for declaratory judgment that the devices were defective in nature and that their batteries should be replaced. The judge also allowed the unjust enrichment claim to proceed, saying the claims surrounding the express warranty needed to be sorted out first.

Following the denied request for dismissal, Garmin requested summary judgment in the lawsuit. The judge explained in the summary judgment, “Because plaintiff makes no claim that defendants violated the KCPA after he purchased the NÜVI 2460 by breaching or otherwise disavowing any express or implied warranty, plaintiff’s post-sale conduct in registering the device is irrelevant to plaintiff’s only remaining claim— a willful omission claim that has nothing to do with the post-sale activities of either plaintiff or defendants.”

The court was left to address the evidence “to determine whether plaintiff’s purchase of his NÜVI 2460 was a consumer transaction under the KCPA.” Judge Murguia ultimately ruled that the transaction did not take place in Kansas, thereby dismissing the case and declining to proceed with class certification.

Meyers is represented by James P. Frickleton and Edward D. Robertson Jr. of Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Gorny PC and by Bryan L. Clobes, Anthony F. Fata and Daniel O. Herrera of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP.

The Garmin Nuvi GPS Battery Class Action Lawsuit is Meyers v. Garmin International Inc., et al., Case No. 2:13-cv-02416 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.