Walmart and Belkin Urge Judge to Send Linksys Router Class Action to Arbitration

Walmart and Belkin Overview:

• Who: Walmart and Belkin International are urging a New York federal judge to move a class action lawsuit against the companies to arbitration.
• What: They argue that the lead plaintiff in the case signed an arbitration agreement concerning his Linksys router long before he filed the case.
• Where: The case is pending in New York district court.

Walmart and Belkin International have told a New York federal judge that a class action the companies are facing over allegedly misleading consumers about the speed of Linksys routers “belongs in arbitration, not this Court.”

The companies say in a motion to stay the claims and compel arbitration that the lead Plaintiff behind the lawsuit, Jeremy Shepherd, agreed to arbitration long before he filed the class action.

“The first time the plaintiff powered up and used the router, he was required to click a button acknowledging that he read and accepted the [license agreement], including its arbitration agreement and class action waiver,” they argue.

Walmart and Belkin called on U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan to move the proceedings into individual arbitration where each class member would have to argue their claims before the arbitrator individually.

Those who bought the router had the option to opt out of the licensing agreement or return the router; however, Shepherd did neither, meaning he lost his ability to file class action proceedings against the companies, they alleged.

Shepherd filed the class action against Walmart and Belkin on Oct. 21 in a New York federal court, alleging Linksys Dual Band AC1000 WiFi routers were falsely advertised. He said in the class action that the pair advertise the Linksys AC1000 as being a “very fast” WiFi router for the internet, with enhanced speeds up to 1,000 Mbps.

Plaintiff Claims Router Operates At Speeds More Than 900 Percent Slower Than Advertised Speeds

Shepherd bought one of the routers from Walmart based on the advertising and discovered that it only operated at WiFi internet speeds between 80-90 Mbps, “more than 900 percent slower than the advertised speeds,” he claims.

He said that after an extensive investigation, his lawyers determined the Linksys AC1000 was not capable of transmitting WiFi internet speeds greater than 100 Mbps because the Ethernet port on the Linksys AC1000 router that connects to the cable modem caps internet transmissions to no more than 100 Mbps. He says this is because it lacks the more expensive Gigabit Ethernet technology contained in competing router models. 

Despite this, the 1000 designation in the name of the Linksys AC1000 leads consumers to believe that the router can operate at internet speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps, he says.

Walmart and Belkin also claim the Linksys AC1000 is 2.3x faster than Wireless N or WiFi 4 technology, which the plaintiff alleges is false.

“Many consumers who purchase falsely advertised Linksys AC1000 routers will never know that the router is not running at the advertised WiFi speeds,” Shepherd says. 

Shepherd is suing under state consumer protection laws and for breach of contract, breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation and fraud. He’s seeking certification of the class action, an injunction, restitution, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.

Would you know if your router had internet speeds slower than advertised? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by James C. Kelly of The Law Offices of James C. Kelly.

The Walmart WiFi Router Class Action Lawsuit is Jeremy Shepherd, et al., v. Belkin International, Inc. et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-05862 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York.

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