Sharper Image Settles Lawsuit
Sharper Image has settled a class-action lawsuit with 3.2 million buyers of its Ionic Breeze air purifier.
Machines will be tested to ensure they meet industry standards concerning the toxin ozone, advertisements will be changed and anyone who bought the product after May 6, 1999, will get $19 in merchandise credit, according to the San Francisco-based company.
If all members of the class use the merchandise credit, it could cost the company $60.8 million. Sharper Image will also pay $1.88 million to the plaintiff’s lawyers, it said. The company’s total assets were $306.4 million as of April 30, according to its most recent audited financial statements.
The lawsuit claimed that the devices don’t clean the air and may produce unhealthy levels of ozone. In its ads, the company claimed the product attracted dust and other indoor air pollutants onto an electrified plate.
Sharper Image includes a filter on new Ionic Breeze devices to convert ozone produced into oxygen, according to a statement on the company’s website. Under the settlement, the filters will be available at a reduced cost to people whose machines lack them.
Patrick Linehan, a Sharper Image spokesman, said the company couldn’t comment on the settlement until it received final court approval.