Interlogix Home Security/Fire Alarm Class Action
New Jersey Federal District Court Judge Rules Class Action Against Home Security/Fire Alarm Manufacturers Can Move Forward
On August 30 2022, Poulos LoPiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Interlogix brand combination home and burglar alarm systems were manufactured and sold with serious defects that lead the alarm systems to instantaneously fail during a fire. The Interlogix brand combination burglar and fire home alarm systems were manufactured and sold from 2002 through 2019 by various manufacturers (due to various mergers and acquisitions) over this time starting with GE, then United Technologies and ultimately Carrier. The class action, brought on behalf of all individuals who have purchased an Interlogix brand home alarm system, claims that Defendants misrepresented the alarm systems as safe and reliable and concealed the alarm system’s true dangerous condition of becoming silent and nonfunctional upon contact with fire rather than alerting those nearby of the potential danger. The class action complaint alleges that despite knowing about this defect, the manufacturers continued to sell the alarm systems. The class action complaint further alleges that as a result of knowingly selling defective alarm systems, the Defendants committed fraud, violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, and breached their express and implied warranties to all consumers, among other claims.
The Defendants moved to dismiss the class action complaint in its entirety on October 31, 2022. However, on June 30, 2023, United States District Court Judge Brian Martinotti denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss ruling that Plaintiff’s class action complaint can proceed for claims based on common law fraud, New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act and breach of express warranty. In his opinion, Judge Martinotti stated, “[Plaintiff’s] allegation that Defendants had ‘exclusive knowledge of and/or concealed material information regarding the Alarm [] Defect’” is sufficient. Further, “[Plaintiff’s] allegation that Defendants knowingly concealed the Alarms’ defective nature adequately pleads unlawful conduct. [Plaintiff] adequately pleads ascertainable loss and a causal connection between the unlawful conduct and the ascertainable loss by alleging ‘out of pocket losses and diminished value of the Alarm[s] . . .’ due to ‘Defendant’s affirmative misrepresentations and omissions associated with the Alarm [] Defects.’”
The cases will now move onto the discovery phase where Plaintiff and Defendants will gather evidence by, for example, exchanging documents and conducting depositions of key witnesses.
If you or anyone you know has a home with an Interlogix combination burglar and fire alarm system and are interested in joining this class action, please contact us at [email protected] or 732-757-0165 and ask to speak with attorney Anthony Almeida.
