A class action lawsuit has been filed against KitchenAid in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit deals with the company’s dishwasher racks and its alleged tendency to break or collapse spontaneously, which causes property damage and potential injuries to the user.
Two California plaintiffs James Bodley and Kylie Matson in Case No. 3:17-cv-05436 say that the dishwasher’s racks were weak and brittle due to the heat caused during normal dishwashing procedures. Because of this, plaintiffs say that the dishwasher cannot fully operate nor can it be repaired. The dishwasher class action lawsuit states that in order to reinstate the dishwasher to an operational state, consumers need to find a replacement. When the plaintiffs asked KitchenAid to replace the upper dishwasher rack, the company reportedly declined to offer to cover the costs, even while the product was under the warranty period. For clarity, assembly rack replacements averages at $25. The costs for labor installments averages at $50.
Because KitchenAid knew of the upper rack assembly defect prior to 2011 and had failed to alert consumers, Bodly and Matson declare that KitchenAid has violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, which states that “methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by any person in a transaction intended to result or which results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” to be unlawful. In addition, the KitchenAid class action lawsuit asserts breached express warranty, breach of implied warranty, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, restitution, exemplary and punitive damages, and fees to the attorney. They will be represented by David M. Birka-White and Mindy M. Wong of Birka-White Law Offices and N. Scott Carpenter and Rebecca Bell-Stanton of Carpenter & Schumacher PC. The case is entitled James Bodley and Kyle Matson v. KitchenAid Inc. and will be pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.