SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge has allowed parts of a proposed class action that alleges Crocs shoes shrink to proceed.
San Francisco judge Trina Thompson on April 26 granted parts of the company's motion to dismiss but did allow three of the claims made by lawyers at Gutride Safier to continue. They plausibly alleged breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability and violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
The firm will be able to try to correct rejected most of the rejected claims, like fraud and violation of California consumer protection laws, in an amended complaint due 14 days after Thompson's order.
Thompson also struck claims regarding Crocs products not purchased by the named plaintiffs.
"Plaintiffs argue that the advertisements they relied on created an express warranty that the Crocs shoes are 'water-friendly' and 'suitable for pool, garden and beach environments,' Thompson wrote.
"The terms that Plaintiffs allegedly were exposed to is sufficient to plausibly plead that an express warranty was created that the Crocs shoes remain wearable when exposed to 'ordinary heat, direct sunlight, and/or water.'"
The plaintiffs claim they were "intentionally misled and deceived" by Crocs because the shoes are warranted as free of manufacturing defects. They also claim Crocs unlawfully failed to disclose their products would shrink and become unwearable when exposed to environments such as lakes, pools, beaches, hot cars, gardens, lawns, porches and more.
Crocs' motion to dismiss, filed in January, said making shrinking shoes would be a strange business strategy.
"(Plaintiffs) attribute a majority of Crocs' success in the marketplace to repeat sales that they claim are caused by 'the fact that the products shrink to the point they must be replaced.' (It is difficult to imagine any company electing to pursue such a strategy, especially in a very competitive marketplace and with savvy American consumers)," the motion says.
Fourteen shrinking complaints on the Crocs Classic Clog comments section pale in comparison to the more than 30,000 reviews on the site, the company says, noting four of the shrinking complaints also had five-star reviews.
"Given the evidence from this database Plaintiffs incorporated into their complaint, it is obvious from the face of the complaint that the class is impermissibly overbroad and not certifiable," the motion says.
The proposed class was all purchasers of Crocs since November 2018.