Chromebook Data-Transfer Rate Class Action Continues With Less Claims

A federal judge says the plaintiff in a Samsung Chromebook class action lawsuit can’t seek injunctive relief because he is not at risk of being deceived by an alleged misrepresentation he’s already aware of.

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas dismissed a claim for injunctive relief by plaintiff Scott Miller. Miller claims the USB connection in his Samsung Chromebook doesn’t deliver the speed it was advertised as having.

He argued that without an injunction against defendant Samsung, he and proposed Class Members could be at risk for being misled again by Samsung’s alleged misrepresentations.

Judge Salas disagreed. She said it would be a “speculative stretch” for Miller to say that he could be misled a second time. The judge pointed out that based on Miller’s prior experience with a Samsung Chromebook, he is now on notice that the product doesn’t deliver the USB speed he needs.

The judge noted that the dismissal does not preclude Miller from seeking injunctive relief in state court, however, since the dismissal is based solely on the federal court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

This Samsung Chromebook class action lawsuit has been going on since June 2014. After a few rounds of refillings and motions for dismissal, Miller is now on his second amended complaint, alleging violations of Florida common law and consumer protection statutes.

Miller alleges that in August 2013 he bought a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. He says he chose this particular laptop in part because it was equipped with a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed port.

The Chromebook he chose didn’t have all the internal data storage he wanted, but he believed its USB connection would be fast enough that a USB-based external storage would adequately substitute for more internal storage.

After buying his Samsung Chromebook, Miller says he discovered its USB connection could not actually achieve the data transfer rates called for by USB 3.0 specifications. Miller alleges the data transfer rate on his Chromebook is only 2.5 percent of the rate advertised.

Far from meeting the specifications for USB 3.0, Miller alleges his Samsung Chromebook doesn’t even approach the 10+ year old specifications for USB 2.0. Had he known that prior to making his purchase, he would not have bought that Chromebook, the class action claims.

In June 2015, the court dismissed a previous iteration of Miller’s request for injunctive relief, essentially because Miller had not alleged in his pleadings that he had any plans to buy another Samsung Chromebook in the future.

If certified as proposed, Miller’s plaintiff Class will encompass all persons who purchased a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook in the U.S. between Oct. 22, 2012 and the present.

With his claim for injunctive relief dismissed, Miller continues to seek a declaratory judgment against Samsung and an award of damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Miller is represented by Michael J. DeBenedictis of DeBenedictis & DeBenedictis LLC and by Adam J. Gutride, Todd Kennedy, Marie McCrary and Seth A. Safier of Gutride Safier LLP.

The Samsung Chromebook False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Scott Miller v. Samsung Electronics America Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-04076, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.