Samsung Class Action Says Televisions Fail Early due to Shoddy Design

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A Utah man says defects in Samsung televisions cause them to fail after just a few years of use.

Plaintiff Charles McCallon says defendants Samsung and Sears knew that Samsung televisions had little chance of functioning for more than a few years after purchase, yet failed to give purchasers reasonable notice of the televisions’ shorter lifespan.

Samsung stopped manufacturing plasma televisions altogether sometime after November 2014, McCallon says.

The company continues to make and market televisions using LCD and DLP technology. McCallon says the average retail price for a television ranges from $250 to $5,000.

The technology used in plasma televisions made them more expensive to manufacture than LCD or DLP units, according to this Samsung class action lawsuit. McCallon alleges Samsung used less expensive and lower quality parts in its plasma televisions so that they could be priced more competitively with LCD and DLP models.

Using cheaper components in a plasma television is a bad idea, McCallon says, given the greater demand that plasma technology places on television components. Plasma technology requires more energy and generates more heat and voltage, both of which can cause components and the televisions themselves to fail prematurely.

McCallon says Samsung and Sears failed to alert consumers that Samsung televisions were likely to fail before the end of their reasonably expected lifespan.

“Televisions are reasonably expected to last more than eight (8) years of continuous use, if not more,” McCallon asserts. “A well-designed and manufactured television will have integral parts that will last the expected useful life of the television.”

The Samsung class action argues that consumers can reasonably expect a Samsung television to last several years beyond the manufacturer’s 12-month express warranty. He claims that failure of these televisions within only a few years of purchase is a sign they are inherently defective and not suitable for their intended purpose.

Yet even though the defect was allegedly present in these televisions at the time of sale, Samsung has reportedly refused to cover the cost of repairs for televisions that fail more than a year after purchase. McCallon says Samsung either knew or should have known that a 12-month express warranty would be “grossly inadequate to protect consumers from the Defect, and would subject consumers to expensive repair costs.”

McCallon says he purchased a Samsung television for about $840 from a Sears store in Tacoma, Wash. The television reportedly failed within a few years due to the defect McCallon describes in this Samsung class action lawsuit.

He was allegedly told by an authorized Samsung repair facility that the part needed to repair his television was no longer available, and that because of the lack of parts, the television was “unrepairable.”

The Samsung class action says the TV manufacturer should have retained an adequate inventory of repair and replacement parts to service its plasma televisions. He argues that the company’s failure to maintain such an inventory is a violation of state consumer protection laws.

McCallon seeks to represent a Class of all persons in Washington state who purchased a Samsung television manufactured between Jan. 1, 2009 and the present.

He is asking the court to award damages, injunctive relief, court costs and attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the court sees fit to grant.

McCallon is representing himself.

The Samsung Television Defect Class Action Lawsuit is McCallon v. Samsung Electronics America Inc., et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-00114-EJF, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.