Samsung Opposes Consolidation of Overheating Smartphone Lawsuits

A federal judicial panel will decide whether to consolidate into multidistrict litigation four class action lawsuits alleging multiple Samsung smartphone models — not just the Galaxy Note7 — are prone to catching fire.

Plaintiffs in all four actions – one filed in the Southern District of New York and the other three in the Northern District of California –  are challenging defendant Samsung Electronics America over allegations that the company sold several models of smartphones with defective batteries that are prone to overheating, catching fire, or in some cases exploding in user’s hands. These models include the S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S6 Active, S7, S7 Edge, S7 Active, and Note 5.

The consolidation, proposed by the plaintiffs in the three California actions, would transfer the New York action to the California court and put all four cases under the supervision of a single judge.

The proposed consolidation would result in a procedural structure known as a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. An MDL is typically used to avoid duplicative procedures and inconsistent judicial decisions across a large number of similar, individual actions.

Samsung filed a motion in opposition to consolidation on February 16. The company argues there are too few actions at issue to make consolidation worthwhile. Consolidation of only four actions would not provide the procedural benefits that make an MDL useful, the company claims.

The company also opposes the proposed California venue. Samsung argues that if consolidation must happen, the cases should be transferred to a federal court in New York, where the company is incorporated.

Plaintiff Claire Gilligan, the named plaintiff in the New York Samsung class action lawsuit, joins Samsung in opposing consolidation. A Pennsylvania resident, Gilligan points out that the three California cases are already scheduled to be combined within that court, which would effectively reduce to two the number of actions proposed for nationwide consolidation.

Samsung continues to argue that none of the claims in these defective battery class action lawsuits should be in court at all. The company argues that all purchasers of Samsung smartphones have a contractual obligation to resolve any disputes via private arbitration and not through a Samsung class action lawsuit.

These four Samsung class action lawsuits allege that several different models of Samsung smartphones have the same overheating problem that plagued the Galaxy Note7.

Plaintiffs allege the batteries in these smartphones are made with volatile materials that can rapidly overheat when combined with oxygen emitted from the battery’s negative electrode.

The Note7 was the subject of an earlier Samsung class action lawsuit filed in a New Jersey court last October, the same month Samsung issued a recall of that model.

Shortly after that action was filed, four plaintiffs brought their own claim in California over several other smartphone models. They allege the same battery defect affects the Samsung S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S6 Active, S7, S7 Edge, S7 Active, and Note5.

Gilligan is represented by attorneys Lori G. Feldman and Courtney E. Maccarone of Levi & Korsinsky LLP and by Janine L. Pollack of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.

The petition for a Samsung Smartphone MDL is pending under In re: Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, MDL No. 2771, before the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Gilligan’s Samsung Smartphone Defective Battery Class Action Lawsuit is Claire Gilligan v. Samsung Electronics America Inc., Case No. 1:16-cv-09803, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On March 1, 2018, 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.