Lenovo’s Motion to Dismiss Attacks Plaintiff’s Law Firm as ‘Vexatious’

The U.S. District Court for Western Michigan should dismiss plaintiff Josh Dinwiddie’s first amended fraud complaint against Lenovo “because he already has amended his complaint once as a matter of course,” and the “substance” of his claims “remains insufficient,” said Lenovo’s memorandum of law Thursday (docket 2:22-cv-00218) in support of that motion to dismiss. Dinwiddle claims to have bought a Lenovo Legion T5 desktop PC that became prone to freezing and crashing when he was gaming. But neither Lenovo nor the court “will be able to test that allegation or determine the cause of any purported issues” because Dinwiddie “unequivocally admits he disassembled his Legion T5 and sold its parts, thus spoliating the most important evidence in the case,” it said. Dinwiddie’s case “is just the latest vexatious litigation” filed by Sheehan & Associates, a small firm based in Great Neck, New York, it said. Though the identity of a plaintiff’s counsel “normally would not be relevant to a motion to dismiss,” the firm has filed more than 400 putative class action cases in federal courts since 2020, predominantly in New York and Illinois, it said. The firm “largely has worn out its welcome in those states,” with judges regularly dismissing its lawsuits for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted, it said.