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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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HP Can’t Dismiss Latest Faulty Printer Lawsuit

(CN) - A federal judge refused to dismiss a class action that claims Hewlett-Packard knew that one of its multi-use printers "has a defect that causes the printer to randomly skip pages when copying, scanning and faxing."

Lead plaintiff Chaim Kowalsky said HP's Office Jet Pro All-in-One printer of the 8500 series has a defect that causes the device to skip pages.

As a result, the document feeder can only take "two to three sheets at a time," though it is advertised as being able to hold 50 sheets.

In April, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh found the proposed class failed to raise facts that would suggest that HP knew about the alleged defect in the printer, and dismissed the complaint.

Kowalsky filed an amended complaint in May, saying "HP's claims regarding the 'core functions' of the 8500 printer 'could only be verified as accurate through testing of the printer.'"

Kowalsky, who bought his printer in July 2009, also said consumers began to complain about the "recurring page-skipping problem" as early as April 2009.

Koh, a San Jose, Calif., judge, found the plaintiff raised a "plausible inference" that HP knew about the defect, rejecting the tech company's latest motion to dismiss.

"According to plaintiff, HP claims in its advertising and on its website that it tests its printers using 'the recognized ISO/IEC 24734 and 24735 standards' prior to releasing them to the marketplace," the judge wrote.

"The 24735 standard requires multiple tests using repeated scanning of a multi-page document through the printer's [automatic document feeder]."

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