Whirlpool Wins Smelly Washing Machine Lawsuit
Learn how to keep your washing machine smelling fresh and clean.
Earlier this month, a federal jury in Cleveland rejected the idea that Whirlpool was responsible for damages stemming from an allegedly faulty design that could lead to the formation of smelly mold inside some 5.5 million of their front-loading washing machines. This was not only a victory for Whirlpool, but also for opponents of frivolous consumer class action lawsuits.
While class action lawsuits do have an important role to play in protecting consumers, they are often abused by attorneys who seem more concerned with enriching themselves than with helping individual consumers. This seemed to be the case in the smelly washing machine lawsuit, as the damage experts presented by the plaintiffs freely admitted that their damage theories were not based on any known incidents of washing machine owners actually experiencing odor problems, but merely upon the alleged potential for odor problems they believed was inherent in the design of the washing machines.
According to Whirlpool, 95 percent of consumers who have purchased their washing machines have never complained about mold or odor problems. However, according to the attorneys presenting the suit, Whirlpool’s own internal documents estimated the complaint rate as anywhere from 35 to 50 percent. Because the individual damages to each appliance owner would not be large enough to make a lawsuit viable, only by banding together into a class action lawsuit consumers could consumers secure compensation for an allegedly faulty product. In this particular Ohio case, the plaintiffs requested $66 million in damages for Ohio residents who own Whirlpool washing machines.
In most cases, corporations opt to settle rather than allowing a class action lawsuit to go forward. In this case, Whirlpool decided to move forward with litigation because although the alleged harm to each individual consumer was small, the total cost of remedying claims to all consumers could be billions of dollars.
The fact that this particular case was decided in favor of Whirlpool does not mean that cases cannot be presented in other states. In fact, the attorneys bringing the suit against Whirlpool have publicly stated that they do intend to bring suits in other states and will use what they learned in this case to fine tune their arguments and hopefully achieve a better result.
What Should You Do If You Have a Whirlpool Washer?
If you have a Whirlpool washer—or any kind of washer for that matter—you do need to take good care of it to prevent mould and odour problems. Simply adding 2 cups of vinegar to the machine and then running a full cycle on hot will do wonders for odour control. Also, be sure to leave the door on your machine open after use to aid in drying. Finally, get any mechanical problems addressed promptly with professional washing machine repair from
Authorized Appliance Repair
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