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Two Ohio landlords say the makers of Champion toilets have failed to properly address a defective and leaky flush valve seal.
Plaintiffs Rachel Papp and Reginald Friesen are suing defendant AS America Inc., the makers of the Champion toilet. The plaintiffs claim the flush valve seal within the Champion 4 toilet is defectively designed and manufactured in a way that ends up causing substantial leaks.
The flush valve seal is part of a toilet’s flushing mechanism that keeps water from leaking out of the tank until a person flushes the toilet. The problem with the flush valve seal on the defendant’s Champion 4 toilet is a blister that develops on the seal’s surface after a short period of time, according to the plaintiffs.
As the blister grows, it creates a leak path. More and more water leaks out of the tank, leading to excessive water bills. The alleged defect can also impair the Champion toilet’s normal function; plaintiffs claim the leak can become so large that the toilet occasionally flushes itself.
Photos included in this Champion toilet class action lawsuit show blue flush valve seals, all of which have visible blisters near their edges, matching the plaintiffs’ description of the alleged defect.
The plaintiffs accuse defendant AS America of failing to fix the design of its flush valve seal, even though the company is allegedly aware of the defect. They claim this defect should be covered by the 10-year express warranty that AS America offers on its Champion toilets.
Papp says she became aware of the alleged defect in August 2016, when she noticed that the water usage at her rental property had increased by 30 percent. Her contractor allegedly traced the problem to the flush valve seal in her Champion 4 toilet later that November. The contractor replaced the seal at Papp’s expense, and only after Papp had incurred substantially higher water bills due to the leak.
Friesen says he had a similar experience with the Champion toilets he purchased for his own home and for rental properties owned by Candu Properties. He says tenants at his residential properties complained that their toilets were running and occasionally flushing on their own.
Friesen claims he inspected these Champion toilets and found blisters on their flush valve seals. He contacted AS America about the problem. The company supposedly told him it was aware of the problem and sent him a replacement flush valve seal.
But the new seal suffered from the same defect, Friesen says. It eventually blistered up like the first seal and caused a leak. Friesen also reports that although AS America did send him the new seal, it did not cover the cost of the repair.
The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class covering all persons or entities in the U.S. who purchased a Champion 4 toilet made by AS America within the past 10 years.
They seek an award of damages, restitution and disgorgement of profits, and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation, all with interest.
Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys Brendon P. Friesen, Anthony J. Coyne and Emily S. O’Connor of Mansour Gavin LPA as well as Stuart E. Scott and Dennis R. Lansdowne of Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP.
The Champion Toilet Defective Flush Valve Seal Class Action Lawsuit is Rachel Papp, et al. v. AS America Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-00800, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
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56 thoughts onChampion Toilets Class Action Says Flush Valve Seal is Defective
We have 5 of these AS toilets.All 5 are leaking and the Lowe’s and Home Depot seals are just a waste of time and money. Sometimes they fail the same day.
Does anyone know of a seal that will work on them?
What can we do?
Class action is usually just a waste of time. Waiting 6 years and getting a check for $1.85 while the lawyers split 9.8 million among themselves.
This toilet cost me thousands in water
Why can’t AS change the rubber compound for this gasket to eliminate blistering?
They say the gasket is rubber but I have never seen rubber blister like their gaskets do.
I had the blister problem finally installed a korky valve with a more traditional flapper now my tank cracked they are sending me a new toilet but I will change the flush valve before installing
I am a licensed Plumber with 39 years in the trade. I was an Am Std guy when I first entered the trade, but defective toilets in the ’90s (Cadets, Hamiltons) made me reconsider my brand choice and I started using Kohler exclusively. My wife and I were staying at a hotel and they had Am Std Champion toilets and the one in our room flushed great. I bought a one-piece for my own home. Four months later it began flushing erratically and then I noticed the sound of it refilling on its own. I’ve added no chemicals to the tank and my water is filtered. I bought the Am Std replacement gasket which came with the small o-ring for the chain connection. I installed it and for a while it was okay. Six months later it began happening again. I replaced the gasket and o-ring again. This time it would not fix it. I shut the water feed and removed the tank cover and noticed the level the water didn’t leak down to the gasket, it leaked to where the chain connected to the flush valve and then stopped. The REAL culprit is the connector from the handle chain to the flush valve. In my 39 years in the trade, and I’m a Master Plumber who ran his own business for 30 years, I’ve never seen a chain connection to the flapper that was part of sealing the tank- EVER! I believe it’s that poorly designed connection that’s leaking and wasting water, filling my septic tank or causing your sewer bill to rise. Am Std MUST be held accountable! They need to provide owners with a newly designed flush valve or a new toilet, compensation for the wasted water for both water usage and sewer bills, and labor to replace or repair. Anything else is unacceptable! I have some clout on Twitter (close to 100,000 followers) and I’ll take my complaint to social media if Am Std refuses to correct this problem! 10-year warranty? They’re not holding up their end. – @Vindog56
I just got a champion 4 one piece installed yesterday. I did so much research on it but never came across this until now. And I’m only searching again because it’s doing that very thing ‘ghost flush’ as I found on google. I’m so mad now. We got the toile to save water as we had an old cadet that used 13 gallons per flush. I was about to order 2 more for my other bathrooms, but m think twice now. What to do? It’s only had about 5 flushes sine I got it.
13 gallons? I seriously hope that was a typo! Lol
I have the same issues and went with a Koehler. Problem solved
How do you get added to the class action suit? Our flapper was just replaced.
“I shut the water feed and removed the tank cover and noticed the level the water didn’t leak down to the gasket, it leaked to where the chain connected to the flush valve and then stopped. The REAL culprit is the connector from the handle chain to the flush valve. ”
Thank you for that tip Vincent. As it turns out with my toilet it was the O-ring leaking and not the gasket. I wrapped the plug with teflon tape and, so far, no leaks.
Someone please help me find the attorneys who are leading the way to this class action lawsuit against American Standard! My toilet was leaking from the reservoir tank,, didn’t notice and slipped on the water it caused and I ended up with a dislocated ankle, broke my tibia & fibula. Most painful experience of my life. Now I can’t work and I’m suffering mentally & physically. I truly need the names & phone numbers of these attorneys.
I have 2 Champion 4 toilets and both leak. I have replaced both flush valves and the blue seals two times per toilet. My water bill is going up and I’m tired of this defective crapper!
Going on my fourth seal,still leaking
Same problems here. I have 3 of the AS Champion 4s and they all leak. Seals have been replaced multiple times. It’s gotten to the point that my children think “daddy just likes working on toilets all the time…” I will contact AS one more time today to find out what their new “solution” is. Unfortunately I think the only real solution is to cough up $1200+for 3 somethings other than American Standard. Add me to the CAction
Another dissatisfied Customer dealing with leaking seals.
SIgn me up. 2000 dollars worth of damage from leak of Champions 3 tank