[Exclusive] Class-action suit against Hyundai Dept. Store's Zinus over fiberglass proceeds in US as arbitration fails

By Park Gyu Jun

A class-action lawsuit began to move forward in the U.S. against Zinus, a furniture and mattress company acquired by Hyundai Department Store in March.

This is because Zinus failed twice in its attempts to resolve legal disputes with some of its consumers through arbitration. The consumers sued the company, alleging that fiberglass from its mattresses can harm their health.

In early 2020, some consumers residing in Illinois first filed the lawsuit, claiming that fiberglass from Zinus mattresses caused health problems.

After they filed the lawsuit, Zinus tried twice to resolve the dispute through arbitration, in order to prevent the case from developing into a class action. However, its attempts ended in failure recently, the Southern District Court of Illinois ruled in June that the plaintiffs can file a class-action suit.

Those who are eligible to join the class action as plaintiffs are consumers living in Illinois.

This is because the court judged that it does not have jurisdiction over plaintiffs living in other states.

The Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., a U.S. law firm that has reportedly pushed ahead with the recent class action over the past two years, said that over 200 plaintiffs from the 50 states of America joined the class action.

Plaintiffs living in a different state, who are not allowed to join the latest class action, filed a lawsuit in California, making allegations similar to the Illinois plaintiffs’ claims.

Multiple class-action suits against Zinus can therefore be filed simultaneously in other states.

A Hyundai Department Store official explained that the fiberglass in Zinus mattresses has been used as a standard flame retardant in the U.S. mattress industry.

“The Consumer Product Safety Commission and other major U.S. regulatory and research agencies regarded the material as harmless to humans, so even if a lawsuit proceeds, it is highly likely that we will win the case,” the official said.

Zinus is feared to suffer a blow in the U.S. market, as it could be forced to pay a huge amount of money in compensation, if the courts in other states follow the Illinois court’s decision that the case can proceed as a class action.

*This was translated from the article originally written in Korean. For more accurate information, please refer to the original version by using the link below. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Korean version shall prevail.

https://biz.sbs.co.kr/article/20000078099

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