Coway hit by class-action suit over defective water purifiers

By Lee Hyo-sik

Nearly 300 people have filed a class-action lawsuit against Coway over its defective ice/water purifiers, demanding some 740 million won ($655,000) in compensation.

Lawyer Nam Hee-woong submitted a petition to the Seoul Central District Court, Tuesday, on behalf of 297 users of Coway’s three nickel-contaminated water purifier models: CHPI-380N (CPI-380N), CHPCI-430N and CPSI-370N.

The lawsuit demands that Coway pay each plaintiff 2.5 million won: 1.5 million won in health examination fees and 1 million won in consolation money.

Nam said Coway did not notify its customers of the defect even though it was aware that the purified water was contaminated by nickel, stressing that they suffered significant health damage.

“We need to conduct a thorough health exam on those who drank nickel-tainted water to find out what physical damage they suffered,” Nam said. “The court will side with the plaintiffs because they were traumatized by the fact that they were exposed to hazardous material for an extended period of time.”

The lawyer said another group of Coway customers, which could reach as many as 1,000, will file another class-action lawsuit against the company next week.

Coway said it became aware of the lawsuit from media reports. “When we are formally notified by the court, we will deal with the matter in a faithful and responsible manner,” a company spokesman said.

On July 4, Coway issued a recall and apologized, saying that it would compensate all buyers of its three controversial water purifier models. It also said it would take full responsibility for health issues caused by the defect.

However, the company has not been able to ease public outrage because it intentionally did not tell the users for more than a year about the defect. Instead of notifying consumers of its findings, Coway had repaired and exchanged the affected products through after-sales service.

According to Nam, at the center of the lawsuit is whether users of the defective ice/water purifiers suffered any health damage from drinking nickel-contaminated water. The lawyer argues that even when consumed in small amounts, nickel can cause cancer, allergies, asthma and other illnesses.

Currently, the Ministry of Environment and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards are jointly conducting a study on nickel’s harmful effects on humans.

Coway said it has completed about 80 percent of the recall by collecting about 92,000 purifiers in question. It plans to take back the remaining 20 percent or 18,000 by the end of this month.