Samsung Knowingly Sold Defective Plasma TVs, Alleges Class-Action Complaint

Samsung manufactured and sold plasma TVs for six years through November 2014 “when it knew or should have known that these televisions would fail prematurely,” alleged a complaint (in Pacer) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, that seeks class-action status. The TVs “are defective in that they contain ill-suited, under-graded and/or inadequate internal components, including capacitors, which prematurely fail during normal operation of the televisions,” it said. Oakland resident Alexis Bronson paid $1,700 to buy his 51-inch Samsung plasma set in August 2013 at a local Best Buy store, said the complaint. Bronson soon noticed red lines appearing on the screen and two years after purchase “sporadically” began having problems powering the TV on or off, it said. Bronson’s TV can’t be fixed “due to the unavailability of repair/replacement parts” after Samsung discontinued its plasma business in late 2014 (see 1407080054), it said. “Samsung violated reasonable expectations of consumers when the likelihood and frequency of television failures exceeded the inventory and availability of component parts necessary to remedy the defect in the Samsung plasma televisions,” it said. Samsung didn’t comment.