Suit Alleges Laptops From 4 Makers Have Same Defect as Toshiba Machine

The same attorneys who wrested a $1-billion settlement from laptop computer maker Toshiba Corp. filed a federal suit Monday over the same alleged defect in computers made by Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, EMachines and Packard Bell NEC.

The new suit, also filed in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, Texas, seeks class-action status, said George Shipley, a spokesman for plaintiffs’ attorney Wayne Reaud and the firms of Orgain, Bell & Tucker and Binkenstaff & Oxford.

“It’s analogous litigation,” Shipley said.

Like the suit against Toshiba, the new case accuses the manufacturers of selling defective laptops and ignoring warnings by component maker NEC that there were potential problems with saving data to floppy disks.

Toshiba conceded Friday that it had ignored the NEC warning and that data could be lost on the more than 5 million Toshiba laptops sold in the U.S. since 1987 if the user is conducting intensive tasks on the machine while simultaneously trying to save information.

The suit filed Monday names NEC as a defendant. An NEC spokesman said he was unaware of the filing and couldn’t comment.

A Compaq spokesman didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment, and the other companies declined to discuss the case.

“We’re not permitted to comment on those lawsuits,” said EMachines spokeswoman Pattie Adams.

Under the settlement tentatively approved last week, Toshiba agreed to provide at least a $100 coupon for its products to every Toshiba laptop owner in the country.

Those who bought machines since March 5, 1998, a year before the suit was filed, will be eligible for an additional amount of cash, as well as software and hardware upgrades.

The rebates will average about $330. The settlement has a face value of $2.1 billion, and Toshiba pledged that at least $1 billion will be spent, if not in cash and coupons, then through donations of equipment to charity.

If the computer companies named in Monday’s suit ultimately settle or are held liable by the court, they would probably be on the hook for less money than Toshiba because Toshiba has sold more laptops in the U.S. and is the world’s largest maker of laptops.