Williams-Sonoma thwarted in attempt to put class action sheet suit to bed

San Francisco – A federal judge gave Williams-Sonoma Inc. good news/bad news involving a class action suit about thread count claims.

Judge William H. Orrick declined to dismiss the class action suit after the retailer asserted a complaining party had waited too long to file a claim, according to an update on the Williams-Sonoma sheet case from Top Class Actions. He waived the statute of limitations because the plaintiff asserted she had not learned about the suit until several years after her purchase.

He also indicated a willingness to dismiss the suit’s assertion that Williams-Sonoma had “actively concealed” information about the sheet construction. However, the suit’s claims that Williams-Sonoma omitted facts from its advertising – thus causing it to be misleading – might be allowed to go forward.

“I don’t know if there is a duty to disclose and whether it’s really limited to products without safety defects,” Judge Orrick stated, according to Top Class Actions.

The case, Rushing et al. v. Williams-Sonoma Inc. et al., was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2016. The lead plaintiff claimed that what was labeled as a 600-count Egyptian cotton sateen sheet was actually 291-count.

The plaintiff involved in the most recent ruling bought two pairs of sheets in January 2011 that she claimed developed tears soon after they were put to use.

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