A Metro by T-Mobile Revvl cell phone exploded in a customer’s hand, resulting in severe burns, alleges a Monday complaint (docket 23PS-cv-01314) in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Plaintiff Fernando Castillo, a Los Angeles County resident, was walking with his cell phone in his pocket in April 2021 when he noticed the light from the phone’s flashlight shining through his pocket, said the complaint. When he took the phone from his pocket it caught fire and the battery exploded while in his hand, resulting in “severe burns” on his right hand, it said. Castillo went to Montclair Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated for second-degree burns and other injuries, he said. The complaint references a 2017 recall advising that Revvl cellular phones were defective and Castillo believes the burn injuries are in part a result of his phone’s defective lithium-ion battery. Castillo is experiencing “debilitating symptoms” on his injured hand, lost the ability to do daily tasks and has continuous emotional distress about potential medical treatments, surgeries and nerve damage, he said. Castillo is suing defendant T-Mobile for negligence, product liability and breach of warranty. He seeks general and punitive damages, plus damages for medical expenses, loss of earnings and loss of earnings capacity, the complaint said.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria for Northern California in San Francisco ordered five related fraud cases against discount prescription drug platform GoodRx to be consolidated under Doe v. GoodRx. Wednesday's order made Doe v. GoodRx the lead case (docket 3:23-cv-00501) and closed dockets 3:23-cv-1293, 3:23-cv-0744, 3:23-cv-0940, and 3:23-cv-01508, E.C. v. GoodRx, filed in late March, alleging unjust enrichment and violation of New York General Business Law 349 (see Ref: 2304030063]). U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu determined in March Doe vs. GoodRx wasn't related to a case assigned to her, DOJ v. GoodRx. GoodRx emailed customers in March advising them the FTC alleged the company shared their personally identifiable information July 2017-April 2020 without their permission (see Ref:2304250045]). Information included details about drug and health conditions customers searched for and their prescription medications. GoodRx agreed to an FTC order that it would tell third parties like Facebook to delete information it received from GoodRx, never share customers’ health information with third parties for advertising purposes, or without their permission, and put in place a comprehensive privacy program.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff for Southern California in San Diego denied as moot T-Mobile’s motion to stay a data breach class action pending the outcome of a petition before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer that and the other 15 related cases for pretrial consolidation under a single district judge, said Huff’s signed order Tuesday (docket 3:23-cv-00427). The case involves 46 named plaintiffs, and is the only known class action among the 16 cases in which the plaintiffs haven’t agreed to a stay (see 2304180014). T-Mobile argued for a stay on judicial efficiency grounds, but the plaintiffs opposed it for fear it would delay their action for months and prejudice their case. By joint stipulation, the parties agreed T-Mobile will have until June 19 to respond to the claims of the first 30 plaintiffs, and until July 10 to respond to the claims of the remaining 16, said Huff’s order.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne for Eastern Texas signed an order Monday (docket 6:22-cv-00423) scheduling an Aug. 9 settlement conference at the Marshall federal courthouse in DirecTV’s fraud complaint against telemarketing impersonators who prey on consumers (see 2211010049). Payne’s order emphatically requires the parties to make a “good faith exchange” of settlement offers “before the conference!” Trial counsel and a representative of each party “with full settlement authority” are required to attend the conference, it said.

Eight attorneys filed notices of presentation of oral argument for the May 25 hearing in Philadelphia of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on the petition to transfer the 16 T-Mobile data breach class actions for pretrial consolidation under a single district judge by Monday’s deadline (see 2304170007). T-Mobile’s outside counsel, Scott Elder of Alston & Bird in Atlanta, was the only attorney among the eight to oppose consolidation, but he prefers transfer to the districts of Western Missouri or Kansas, should the JPML go against his objections, said his notice (MDL No. 3073). Both those jurisdictions are within a half-hour drive from T-Mobile’s secondary headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Four of the attorneys favor transfer to the Western District of Washington in Seattle, near T-Mobile’s primary headquarters in Bellevue. One of the remaining attorneys favors the Western District of Missouri, another the District of Kansas, still another the Southern District of California in San Diego.

The clerk in U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler filed, at DirecTV’s request (see 2302150035), an entry of default (docket 6:22-cv-00423) Friday against Shahid Bashir Ahmad, one of 10 named defendants in DirecTV’s Nov. 1 complaint alleging a fraud scheme to prey on consumers by impersonating DirecTV telemarketers. Ahmad was properly served with the complaint Dec. 29 but “failed to file any pleadings or otherwise defend the case,” and no appearance was “entered by him or by anyone on his behalf,” said DirecTV’s Feb. 14 request. The deadline for filing a response to the complaint was Jan. 19.

None of Apple’s arguments are a basis for dismissal of plaintiff Elizabeth Steines’ consumer fraud complaint and its motion should be denied, said her opposition Friday (docket 3:22-cv-03099) in U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois in East St. Louis. Apple’s decision not to package a power adapter with series 12 through 14 iPhones is a breach of contract and a breach of implied warranty, and a violation of Illinois consumer fraud laws, alleged Steines’ Dec. 27 class action (see 2212300037). Had she known she was buying an incomplete product, “devoid of essential functionality,” because this was only disclosed on the back of the box, in small print, she wouldn’t have bought it or would have paid less, said her opposition. By the time Steines received the box in her hand at the time of her purchase, "she had already paid for it," it said. Any effort to inspect the packaging would have come too late, "in contrast to a typical scenario where goods are stocked on shelves for easy inspection," it said.

NCB Management Solutions shares the opinion of co-defendant Bank of America and agrees with class-action plaintiff Kylie Meyer’s April 13 motion that the court should consolidate Meyer’s data breach complaint with six others, and should set a deadline for filing a single consolidated complaint (see 2304250004), said NCB’s response Friday (docket 2:23-cv-01340) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. BofA is alleged in Meyer’s complaint to have sold delinquent credit card accounts to NCB for collection, and NCB is alleged to have enabled hackers to access the personally identifiable information of nearly 500,000 account holders in early February. Of the seven class actions being considered for consolidation, only one other one, Palmer v. NCB (docket 2:23-cv-01315), lists BofA and NCB as co-defendents. The rest name NCB as the sole defendants. All seven cases are assigned to U.S. District Judge Kai Scott for Eastern Pennsylvania.

TransNexus planned to serve subpoenas by Friday on seven nonparties in its defense of a defamation lawsuit brought by common carrier Avid Telecom and its CEO Michael Lansky, said a TransNexus notice Thursday (docket 1:22-cv-04829) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. Avid alleges TransNexus published a transcript of a Skype conversation depicting one of the participants seeking to unlawfully mask illegal robocalls so they wouldn’t get flagged by federal investigatory agencies. But instead of identifying the actual Skype participant, TransNexus published a doctored version depicting one of the parties to be Lansky (see 2212080050).

A Louisiana consumer sued Amazon and Shenzhen Dayantian Technology Wednesday for negligence and breach of warranty over defective Bluetooth earbuds, said a complaint (docket 3:23-cv-00317) in U.S. District Court for Middle Louisiana in Baton Rouge. In November, plaintiff Edna Bowles of Livingston Parish was using Hinycom earbuds manufactured by Shenzhen Dayantian when the buds’ case, which were in her pocket, “exploded in flames,” resulting in third-degree burns to her left hip, thigh and hand, said the complaint. Bowles bought the earbuds from Amazon in May. She alleges the earbud assembly and case were defective as defined by the Louisiana Product Liability Act. The danger or risk of “spontaneous combustion” of the earbuds under any circumstances, including carrying the case in a pocket, was not conveyed to her, said the complaint. The product failed to adequately warn her of the risk, which wasn't readily apparent to a reasonable consumer, she said. In addition to mental and physical pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the burns, Bowles endured “permanent scars and disfigurement and functional impairment of her left hand,” said the complaint. She seeks compensatory damages, redhibition, judicial interest and legal costs.