Associated Press, "Carrier Corp. Faces Class Action Suits"

          Homeowners in Ontario and Wisconsin have filed separate class-action suits against Carrier Corp., seeking compensation for corrosion in furnaces sold since the mid-1980s under the Carrier, Bryant, Day & Night, or Payne brand names.
          The Ontario suit, filed in Toronto, is brought on behalf of all Canadians with the allegedly defective furnaces. The class action filed in Madison, Wis., is brought on behalf of an estimated 200,000 furnace owners.
          The suits allege that beginning in the mid-1980s, Carrier started manufacturing its high-end furnaces out of inferior material that corrodes and prematurely fails, without disclosing that fact to consumers.
          The complaints in each case allege that Carrier stopped using stainless steel secondary heat exchangers in favor of cheaper polypropylene-laminated mild steel. Plaintiffs allege that the polypropylene separates from the steel and degrades due to the high temperatures in the furnace, exposing the underlying mild steel to acidic condensate.
          "Carrier's warranty does not cover labor charges for replacement of the failed part," said Lester Pines, a lawyer acting for the plaintiff in the Wisconsin class action. "Often homeowners are faced with spending more than $1,000 to repair their furnace, or they must buy a brand new furnace."
          In the Ontario action, Rochon Genova LLP serves as lawyers for the plaintiffs.
          "If I was a homeowner faced with this problem, I would pull together my repair bills or invoices for the cost of purchasing a new furnace and the cost of the original furnace," Joel Rochon, the lawyer leading the Ontario case, said in an interview.

For more information on this case, click here.