Major Victory in General Electric Microwave Oven Class Action

On April 14, the Hunton & Williams LLP team representing General Electric in a putative class action won a major victory when the court denied the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class. The plaintiffs originally sought certification of a nationwide class comprising all owners of GE-branded microwave ovens manufactured since 2000, plus statewide classes in California, Michigan and Ohio. The proposed class originally included approximately 54 million microwave ovens. The plaintiffs’ expert valued their damages at up to $11 billion.

The court agreed with GE that the case could not proceed as a class action, primarily because of a lack of commonality among the scores of models at issue and because individual issues would predominate at trial. The court adopted nearly all of the arguments the Hunton team advanced in its briefing and in particular at oral argument.

GE is represented in this action by Michael Mueller, Neil K. Gilman and Thomas R. Waskom. The case name is Robinson v. General Electric Company, Case No. 09-cv-11912. It is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The briefs on class certification are under seal, but the opinion is public and available here.