U.S. District Judge Noel Hilman gave the final approval for the settlement in the Electrolux Home Products Ice Makers case, which is a class action litigation. The settlement may be worth as much as $20 million. The class for the Electrolux Home Products case is made up of about 100,000 members. These members purchased Electrolux ice maker and claimed that the product was faulty.
According to advertisements and promotions, the Electrolux ice maker is able to offer “ice at your fingertips” to consumers. However, these 100,000 members claimed that the product failed to produce ice as marketed and instead caused major damage to their refrigerators. Many of the members reported that the product leaked only a few months after they purchased it.
Mariusz Kuzian, who happens to be the named plaintiff, claimed that the product she purchased from Electrolux Home Products only worked for a year. One year after purchase, the ice maker of the Electrolux French Door Bottom Freezer Refrigerator stopped working. She had the ice maker repaired and after six months, both the ice machine and the front electronic display of the refrigerator stopped working. Kuzian also said that the interior light of the refrigerator did not turn off after closing the doors. This interior light caused the refrigerator’s internal temperature to increase and the food in the refrigerator to spoil.
According to the members of the class, the problems with these refrigerators are a result of design defects. The class members claimed that either the defendant sold the products while fully aware of the defects, or the defendant did not know about the defects due to carelessness in the testing of the products.
Based on the settlement’s terms, the class members will receive $100 in cash as well as a $100 rebate. This rebate can be used to go towards the cost of any Electrolux product that costs $499 or more.
Class members who paid for repairs with their own money will receive reimbursement from the quarter of a million dollar reimbursement fund. The named plaintiffs in the case will receive service payments worth $32,500. The counsels will receive a total of $2.75 million for attorney fees.
