Anne Bucher  |  March 5, 2018

Category: Consumer News

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samsung-galaxy-s7Last week, Samsung Electronics America Inc. asked a California federal judge to force the plaintiffs and putative Class Members in a Samsung Galaxy overheating lawsuit to pursue their claims individually in arbitration.

According to Samsung, the Galaxy owners agreed to an arbitration clause requiring them to handle any disputes on an individual basis in arbitration rather than court. The smartphone maker claims that the plaintiffs failed to opt out of the arbitration clause within 30 days of the date they purchased the Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit involves a consolidated complaint filed more than a dozen consumers in California, Colorado, Maryland and Massachusetts who acquired or purchased certain Samsung phones since 2015. They claim their phones have a defect that causes a risk of overheating, explosion or fire.

The phones named in the Samsung exploding smartphone class action lawsuit include the S7, S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S5 and Note 5.

Most of the plaintiffs are from California, and they argue that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in its 2017 Norcia v. Samsung Telecommunications decision that Samsung had failed to provide conspicuous notice of the arbitration clause on the smartphone’s packaging.

One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that the California plaintiffs were not notified about and did not agree to the arbitration clause because they were not clear and conspicuous as the 9th Circuit decided in the Norcia case.

Samsung’s lawyers argued that other appellate decisions in California support enforcement of agreements included inside a package, which the consumer cannot view prior to purchasing the product.

The judge did not make a decision in last week’s hearing, indicating her interest in reviewing the phones purchased by the plaintiffs, their packaging, and the applicable state laws for each of them.

Four California plaintiffs filed their Samsung exploding smartphone class action lawsuit in 2016, seeking to stop Samsung from continuing to sell the allegedly defective Galaxy and Note smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy smartphone class action lawsuit alleged the smartphone batteries are susceptible to overheating and catching fire. The plaintiffs claim Samsung is aware of the issues with its smartphone batteries but has failed to warn consumers about the dangers they may pose.

The allegedly defective Samsung Note 7 smartphones were subjected to a complete recall in 2017, but other Samsung smartphones that allegedly posed a risk of overheating, fire or explosion remained on the market.

The Samsung class action lawsuit says these smartphones are “ticking time bombs.”

Similar Samsung smartphone class action lawsuits were subsequently filed, and they were consolidated in California federal court over Samsung’s opposition.

The plaintiffs are represented by Richard D. Lambert of Stonebarger Law APC and Anne Marie Murphy of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.

The Samsung Galaxy Overheating Smartphone Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, Case No. 5:16-cv-06391, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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70 thoughts onSamsung Seeks to Force Arbitration in Galaxy Overheating Class Action

  1. Shabazz Muhammad says:

    My Galaxy S21 pro pro began overheating and one day eventually calls me a second degree burn. After contacting Samsung and T-Mobile neither neither has done anything. As. As of today’s date September 16th 2022 Samsung’s product liability team has not made a decision yet and I filed this over a year ago.

    1. Albert Cruz says:

      My Samsung started overheated after I purchased a new model Galaxy S21 Ultra last year. Tmobile and Samsung only would agree to a reburbished phone and I wanted a new phone because I just had received that phone. I got nowhere with them, so I just use a cover to try to keep the heat at a minimal, but without a phone case its unusable with the heat

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