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Case Center
Carrier Furnaces
- Issue: Defective product
- Result: 20-year enhanced warranty of free service & free parts
- 2008
Carrier, et al. Condensing Furnace Consumer Class Actions
In April 2008, the Court granted final approval to a nationwide settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by current and past owners of high-efficiency furnaces manufactured and sold by Carrier Corporation and equipped with polypropylene-laminated condensing heat exchangers ("CHXs").
Carrier sold the furnaces under the Carrier, Bryant, Day & Night and Payne brand-names. Plaintiffs alleged that starting in 1989 Carrier began manufacturing and selling high efficiency condensing furnaces manufactured with a secondary CHX made of inferior materials. Plaintiffs alleged that as a result, the CHXs, which Carrier warranted and consumers expected to last for 20 years, failed prematurely.
The settlement provides an enhanced 20-year warranty of free service and free parts for consumers whose furnaces have not yet failed. The settlement also offers a cash reimbursement for consumers who already paid to repair or replace the CHX in their high-efficiency Carrier furnaces.
An estimated three million or more consumers in the U.S. and Canada purchased the furnaces covered under the settlement. Plaintiffs valued the settlement to consumers at over $300 million based upon the combined value of the cash reimbursement and the estimated cost of an enhanced warranty of this nature.