Robert J. Boumis  |  July 28, 2016

Category: Consumer News

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Adidas sportswear storeAdidas has asked a federal judge to deny class certification to a group of consumers who claim its Springblade shoe breaks down within days of purchase.

Adidas filed a motion alleging that the Class proposed in the lawsuit against them is unduly broad.

The Adidas shoe lawsuit has been ongoing since August of 2015, when plaintiff Edward Ruffo’s Springblade shoes allegedly fell apart after a few days’ use.

In October of last year, Adidas filed a motion to dismiss the shoe lawsuit, but the case is ongoing.

Ruffo alleges that he only briefly used the shoes, wearing them on one outdoor trek and several days on the treadmill.

The Springblade shoes consist of sixteen flexible plastic blades that Adidas markets as providing enhanced running performance. However, Ruffo asserts that the soles of these shoes begin to break down quickly.

In this latest motion, Adidas alleges that class certification should be denied.

Adidas argues that there are alleged discrepancies, or at the very least questions that must be answered in the assertions of the plaintiff.

First, Adidas’s legal team claims that all running shoes break down eventually, especially with heavy use. The defendant also points out that while Ruffo allegedly purchased the Springblade shoes in the summer of 2015, he did not seek a refund with Adidas until the subsequent January.

The motion is also critical of an expert witness cited in Ruffo’s shoe lawsuit.

The text of the complaint had cited a man named Clifford Gerber. Gerber’s testimony argues that all Springblade shoes will eventually fail. But Adidas states that Gerber is a former employee of a rival company, and that he has no special knowledge of the shoes in question.

“Mr. Gerber does not purport to have any inside knowledge of how Springblade running shoes are manufactured, and his views are purely speculative and warrant no weight (nor should he be qualified as an ‘expert’),” the motion states.

On a larger scale, Adidas argues that the motion to certify the shoe lawsuit as a class action lawsuit falls apart on jurisdiction issues as well. First, they argue that the court hearing the case only has jurisdiction over New York lawsuits, so the case should not be certified as a nationwide class action suit.

Adidas claims that different states have different laws, and much of Ruffo’s case is built around New York rules for class certification.

Adidas’s motion further argues that legal shortcomings of the case should prevent class certification anywhere.

The proposed Class Members in the Adidas class action lawsuit could include anyone in the U.S. who purchased Adidas Springblade running shoes with a subclass of  New York residents, depending on how the lawsuit progresses.

Ruffo is represented by Thomas Guiffra of Rheingold Valet Rheingold McCartney & Giuffra LLP.

The Adidas Springblade Shoe Class Action Lawsuit is Ruffo v. Adidas America Inc., Case No. 1: 15–cv–05988, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On Sept. 2, 2016, Adidas won its bid to deny certification of a nationwide Class of consumers who allege the company’s Springblade sneakers are defective and fall apart after one or two uses.

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One thought on Adidas Wants Class Cert. Bid Denied in Springblade Shoe Lawsuit

  1. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: On Sept. 2, 2016, Adidas won its bid to deny certification of a nationwide Class of consumers who allege the company’s Springblade sneakers are defective and fall apart after one or two uses.

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