Volin v. General Electric Co.

189 F. Supp. 3d 411
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedMay 31, 2016
DocketCiv. No. 15-4111 (KM) (JBC)
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 189 F. Supp. 3d 411 (Volin v. General Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Volin v. General Electric Co., 189 F. Supp. 3d 411 (D.N.J. 2016).

Opinion

AMENDED OPINION

McNULTY, United States District Judge.

The plaintiff, Sylvia Volin, brings this putative class action against the defendant, General Electric Company (“GE”), for damages relating to the allegedly defective design of gas range ovens. The complaint asserts six causes of action, for violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 56:8-1 et seq.; breach of implied warranties; breach of express warranties under the Uniform Commercial Code, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 12A2-101 et seq.; the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2301; unjust enrichment; and the New Jersey Products Liability Act, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:58C-1 et seq.

Now before the Court is the motion of Defendant GE to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). (Dkt. No. 9) For the reasons set forth below, the motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

These allegations are assumed to be true solely for purposes of a motion to dismiss. See p. 3, infra.

On January 30, 2013, Volin, a resident of Tenafly, New Jersey, purchased a GE-branded 30‘ Free Standing Gas Range Oven, model number JGB600EEDES (“Gas Range”). (Complaint, Dkt. No. 1 (“Compl.”) ¶ 1) Volin bought the Gas Range for $ 1,087 from Oberg & Lindquist, a GE-authorized dealer, in Westwood, New Jersey. (Id. ¶¶ 1, 25)

The Gas Range has four surface knobs located in front, each knob corresponding to one of four burners. (Compl. ¶ 14) Each knob is turned to the “Lite” position to light the burner. (Id. ¶ 15) The mechanism for lighting the burner is that flammable gas released through a burner tube reacts with air and an electric spark. (Id. ¶¶ 17, 18)

Volin alleges that the knobs have a “Surface Knob Defect” that causes them to turn even when the user is not intentionally trying to light a burner. The knobs allegedly rotate inadvertently, for example when someone brushes against them or the appliance is jostled. (Id. ¶¶ 6, 16, 38) When this “Surface Knob Defect” occurs, the burner valve opens, releasing a steady stream of flammable gas. For instance, Volin recounts that in early 2014, a guest in her home brushed against one of the knobs, resulting in a high flame being lit on one of the burners. (Id. ¶ 40)

■Volin alleges that there is an additional “Ignition System Defect.” Sometimes the ignition system fails to ignite the gas, and there is no failsafe or other means to detect that gas is being emitted but not ignited. (Id. ¶¶ 8, 20, 22) The net effect, Volin alleges, is that inadvertent jostling or bumping of the knobs can result in a buildup of flammable gas in one’s home, and she alleges that this occurred in September 2013. (Id. ¶¶20, 39) The gas is noxious, unpleasant, and dangerous, (Id. ¶¶ 10, 21)

On September 4, 2013, Volin contacted GE’s customer service to report the issue. (Compl. ¶ 43) A service representative visited Volin’s home on September 12, 2013. (Id. ¶.45) The .representative told Volin that nothing could be done to remedy the defects and warned Volin to avoid leaning [416]*416on the knobs. (Id.) GE did nothing further to address the issues. On May 21, 2014, Volin purchased plastic safety covers for the four knobs. (Id. ¶ 46) Those covers, which cost $8.58, prevent the knobs from being rotated unless the cover is unlatched. (Id. ¶¶ 46-47) This “band-aid fix,” Volin alleges, is unsatisfactory in that the covers detract from the aesthetics of the range and, when unlatched, hang down and block the proper opening and closing of the oven. (Id. ¶¶ 47-48)

Volin alleges that the two alleged defects created a dangerous situation in her home and rendered the Gas Range unsafe. (Compl. ¶ 63) GE, she alleges, possessed data and reports revealing the defects, but chose to conceal them. (Id. ¶ 64) In their advertising material, GE allegedly represented that the Gas Ranges could be used for' the purpose for which they were intended. (Id. ¶ 66) The owner’s manual instructed the user to “push the control knob in and turn it to the LITE position” to turn on one of the burners. According to Volin, this was misleading because the manual did not disclose that a burner could also be turned on inadvertently. (Id. ¶ 67) The manual also stated that “when one burner is turned to LITE, all the burners spark.” Volin alleges that this is misleading because the ignition system (sometimes) fails to ignite the released gas. (Id. ¶ 68) Finally, Volin alleges that GE and its authorized dealer representative at Oberg & Lindquist falsely represented that the Gas Range had safety features which would prevent flare-ups, explosions, or fires. (Id. ¶ 71)

Volin filed her Complaint on June 17, 2015. (Dkt. No. 1) GE’s motion to dismiss the Complaint has been fully briefed by both sides.

LEGAL STANDARD

Defendant has moved to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Rule 12(b)(6) provides for the dismissal of a complaint, in whole or in part, if it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The defendant, as the moving party, bears the burden of showing that no claim has been stated. Hedges v. United States, 404 F.3d 744, 750 (3d Cir.2005). In deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court must take the allegations of the complaint as true and draw reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 231 (3d Cir.2008) (traditional “reasonable inferences” principle not undermined by Twombly, see infra).

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) does not require that a complaint contain detailed factual allegations. Nevertheless, “a plaintiffs obligation to' provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Thus, the complaint’s factual allegations mdst be sufficient to raise a plaintiffs right to relief above a speculative level, so that a claim is “plausible on its face.” Id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955; see also Umland v. PLANCO Fin. Serv., Inc., 542 F.3d 59, 64 (3d Cir.2008). That facial-plausibility standard is met “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

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189 F. Supp. 3d 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/volin-v-general-electric-co-njd-2016.