The trial court in the District of Columbia denied Defendant Haier U.S.’s motion for summary judgment. As a result, the lawsuit alleging that Haier’s failure to warn consumers that its GE-brand gas stoves can be harmful to human health violates the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act will be going to trial.
Specifically, Haier U.S. claimed that there is no scientific consensus that the nitrogen dioxide emitted from its gas stoves caused adverse health effects. Plaintiff U.S. PIRG Education Fund opposed the motion by providing expert testimony from academic researchers in the field showing that these stoves emitted NO2 at levels that exceeded several international air quality standards and that there is a scientific consensus that these gases caused harm. The Court also found that Haier U.S. did not prove that requiring it to add a label warning consumers that the NO2 emitted from its stove might cause harm and that they should use ventilation would violate its First Amendment rights.