This is a class action suit alleging warranty, design and failure-to-warn claims involving washing machines. Click here for a summary of the proceedings in the Sixth Circuit.
The NAM filed an amicus brief 9/28/2012 supporting review of the Sixth Circuit's ruling by the Supreme Court. The ruling affirmed certification of a class of some 200,000 Ohio consumers, notwithstanding that many had no injury and their experiences with the machines were vastly different. We argued that the decision misapplied legal requirements that there be common claims among the parties, and that common questions predominate over any questions affecting only individual members. The result of this error threatens to subject manufacturers to product liability class actions with huge numbers of consumers who have suffered no injury, exposing them to liability far out of proportion to any actual underlying defect.
On April 1, 2013 the Supreme Court remanded this case back to the Sixth Circuit in light of the Court’s ruling on March 27 in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, where the Court held that class certification was inappropriate where damages could not be shown on a class-wide basis.