San Francisco, CA: A class action lawsuit against Dell, Inc, filed originally in October 2006 and dismissed in 2008, was reinstated on February 5 by the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.
The lawsuit alleges misconduct in connection with the design, manufacture, warranting, advertising and selling of Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100 and 5160 notebooks.
As set forth in the complaint, plaintiffs allege Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100 and 5160 notebooks are designed and manufactured with three uniform and inherent defects:
-The notebooks' cooling systems are inadequate to dissipate the heat generated through normal use;
-The power supply system prematurely fails when used as intended; and
-The motherboards on the notebooks prematurely fail.
These alleged defects cause Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100 and 5160 notebooks to shut down unexpectedly or fail to boot up and/or the batteries will fail to hold a charge, or will hold a charge for only a short time, well before the expected end of the battery's life.
Plaintiffs also allege that Dell concealed the true defective nature of its Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100 and 5160 notebooks, and failed to recall the notebooks or take other adequate remedial action. Instead, plaintiffs charge Dell sold and serviced Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100 and 5160 notebooks even though it knew that the notebooks would prematurely fail.
Plaintiffs seek to represent a class consisting of all individuals and entities in California who own or have owned any one or more of the Dell Inspiron notebooks, computer models 1100, 1150, 5100 or 5160.
Nearly identical allegations in this class action were made in an earlier lawsuit against Dell for defects with the Inspiron 5150 notebook computer. The parties reached a settlement in the Inspiron 5150 case.
