Judge Refuses to Dismiss Fitbit Sleep Tracking Class Action

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.

UPDATE 3: On Oct. 26, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers who filed a valid claim for the Fitbit class action settlement started receiving checks in the mail worth $12.50. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!

UPDATE 2: On Sept. 13, 2018, the Fitbit sleep tracker class action settlement was declined by a federal judge for a few reasons, but chief among them was a concern over the use of Fitbit coupons that would be given as part of the deal.

UPDATE: On Aug. 1, 2018, Fitbit reached a settlement deal resolving a class action lawsuit that claims the fitness device’s sleep-tracking capability is defective. Under the proposed Fitbit class action settlement, Fitbit will provide affected customers with a $5 voucher that will not expire and can be used on Fitbit’s website, as well as a $10 cash payment.

A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit accusing Fitbit of misleading consumers that its wearable fitness devices can accurately track sleep quality.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Donato denied Fitbit’s dismissal request, saying the plaintiffs’ fourth amended complaint sufficiently supports their consumer deception and warranty claims that Fitbit knowingly advertises on its product packaging that its “Flex” device and other Fitbit products equipped with a sleep-tracking feature can accurately track users’ sleep quality.

“It is a rare situation in which granting a motion to dismiss is appropriate and nothing here makes this case one of those rare situations,” Judge Donato said. “The facts in the complaint … make the deceptive practices claims plausible.”

Plaintiff James Brickman of Florida filed the class action lawsuit in 2015, alleging Fitbit Inc. knowingly misled consumers about the functionality of sleep tracking on its wearable devices.

The plaintiff claims to have purchased a Fitbit “Flex” device that included a sleep tracking feature advertised to track “hours slept,” “times woken up,” and “sleep quality.”

However, Brickman says that Fitbit uses an accelerometer as the sleep tracking platform, which according to the complaint, “can only measure movement and not sleep.”

The Fitbit Sleep Tracking class action lawsuit further asserts that consumers who purchased Fitbit devices equipped with the sleep tracking feature paid at least $30 more than what they would have paid if they had bought Fitbit’s basic device, Fitbit Zip, which does not have the sleep tracking feature.

“By advertising this sleep-tracking function without actually providing this function to its customers, Defendant is violating California and Florida law,” the lawsuit contends.

Fitbit argued in their dismissal motion that the plaintiffs failed to show that its packaging misleads consumers and that claims lacked specificity necessary to allege fraud.

But Judge Donato said that product packaging, coupled with the plaintiffs’ own experiences with the products and documents stating that the devices can only measure motion, are sufficient enough to bring their claims.

Fitbit also cited a number of scientific studies in their dismissal motion, finding that accelerometers do accurately track sleep, but Judge Donato noted that the parties “clearly have sharply divergent views about sleep monitoring technology and what works and what does not,” but ruled those characteristics do not warrant granting the motion to dismiss.

“Even if Fitbit’s studies might validate the use of accelerometers for sleep monitoring, plaintiffs’ claims arise out of Fitbit’s representations on product packaging and similar sources,” he said, adding that “consumers are not expected to do research beyond misleading representations on the front of the box.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Patrick J. Perotti and Frank A. Bartela of Dworken & Bernstein Co. LPA, John A. Kithas and Christopher Land of the Law Offices of John A. Kithas, and Christopher J. Morosoff of the Law Office of Christopher J. Morosoff.

The Fitbit Sleep Tracking Class Action Lawsuit is Brickman, et al. v. Fitbit Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-02077, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.