Whirlpool Class Action Says French Door Refrigerators are Defective

A class action lawsuit says a defect in Whirlpool French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators prevents them from cooling properly.

Plaintiffs Justin DeFillippo and Derek Scachetti claim that they both purchased French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators made by Whirlpool that possess the same defect. 

The plaintiffs say Whirlpool knows that the refrigerators are defective but did not attempt to compensate consumers. They claim that they were financially injured by the company.

The Whirlpool refrigerator class action alleges that this defect is present in many French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators made by Whirlpool, and that the refrigerators are marketed under a number of brand names, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag.

In the Whirlpool fridge defect class action lawsuit the two consumers seek damages for themselves and all others who purchased defective French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators.

DeFillippo claims that he purchased a Kitchen Aid French Door Bottom Mount refrigerator made by Whirlpool in September 2015 for around $3,000 in Brooklyn New York. He says he began experiencing a problem with the refrigerator as soon as one week after purchasing it.

Allegedly, his Whirlpool refrigerator contains a defect that causes frost to develop on the evaporator and impedes the airflow in the freezer, causing the refrigerator to not cool and freeze food as advertised.

DeFillippo says he contacted Whirlpool after he initially experienced the defect, and was told to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in. Allegedly, this appeared to resolve the issue temporarily but did not permanently repair the problem.

The Whirlpool refrigerator class action lawsuit alleges that DeFillippo then experienced the defect again a year later, and was again told to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in, which only temporarily resolved the problem.

DeFillippo claims that over the last 26 months, he has experienced the defect on many occasions, and has contacted Whirlpool numbers times. Each time, he says he is offered no solution other than to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in. Allegedly, Whirlpool has made no effort to repair the refrigerator or to offer a longer-term solution.

Scachetti says he purchased a home in 2017 that included a Whirlpool Goldstar refrigerator, manufactured in 2012. Allegedly, the refrigerator stopped working in June 2018, because the evaporation system was not working properly.

The plaintiff says he contacted Whirlpool and a Whirlpool technician came to Scachetti’s house, told him Whirlpool knew of the defect, and charged him $96 as a service fee to install a new evaporation system.

The Whirlpool class action lawsuit claims the plaintiffs were financially injured by the defect of the Whirlpool refrigerator. They say that had they known that the refrigerators were defective, they would not have purchased them or would not have paid as much for it. The plaintiffs argue that many consumers feel the same way about their Whirlpool refrigerator purchase.

Additionally, the Whirlpool defect class action lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs were injured because they were required to expend costs and effort to attempt to remedy the problem, because the refrigerator spoiled the food kept inside, and because in some cases, the defect caused a significant amount of water to pool on the floor.

The Whirlpool refrigerator cooling defect class action lawsuit claims that Whirlpool knew of the defect but did not warn consumers, and advertised the refrigerator as if it was effective and worked well. Allegedly, Whirlpool intentionally concealed the defect from consumers, while profiting from a product that did not perform as advertised.

To support their claim that Whirlpool knew of the defect and did not attempt to remedy the problem or compensate consumers, the Whirlpool class action lawsuit notes that the Whirlpool technician that Scachetti spoke to admitted that Whirlpool knew of the problem.

Additionally, the Whirlpool class action lawsuit claims that the company itself publishes information to internal service providers that details the defect, and provides them a method with remedying the problem if a consumer complains of the defect.

Nonetheless, the company has allegedly made no effort to repair the refrigerators or change the design before they reach the market, causing consumers to purchase defective refrigerators and be financially injured by their purchase.

DeFillippo and Scachetti are represented by Joseph LoPiccolo and John Poulos of Poulos LoPiccolo PC and by Bruce H. Nagel and Randee Matloff of Nagel Rice LLP.

The Whirlpool French Door Bottom Mount Refrigerator Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Justin DeFillippo, et al. v. Whirlpool Corporation, Case No. 8:18-cv-12523, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.