The courts have forced arbitration for the LG device bootloop lawsuit being handled by the law firm Girard Gibbs LLP, which essentially means that the dispute over the issues with people’s LG devices bootlooping by way of a phone defect will be handled by an independent third-party. This means that the lawsuit has technically been dismissed, and because this is arbitration and not a class-action lawsuit it could affect the outcome compared to when it was being handled in court and the decision would have been made by the judge that was presiding over the case, which was U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald.
As of June 29th, which was just last Thursday, the motion to compel arbitration was granted allowing the arbitration to move forward and take over resolving the dispute in this case. The motion to compel arbitration for the case was initially filed back on May 18th, and the court held a hearing over the motion last week on June 26th before finally coming to the decision listed above three days later. For customers affected by the LG device bootloops arbitration may result in a less than desirable decision which could entail little to no relief as the compensation for the issues that customers have been experiencing.
According to Girard Gibbs LLP though the arbitration is not necessarily the end of things. Girard Gibbs LLP mentions that it has plans to seek relief in the arbitration for the problems that its clients have been facing, of which it says includes real injuries that were sustained by the clients which it believes entitles them to some sort of relief compensation. Girard Gibbs LLP also states that it may seek relief from the courts judgement about forcing the lawsuit into arbitration, though it doesn’t exactly mention what form its seeking relief in. With the case now heading into arbitration and the lawsuit basically dismissed, a new lawsuit for the same issues could be brought up by Girard Gibbs LLP at some point in the future if it doesn’t get the resolution from the arbitration that it’s seeking for those consumers affected. This also marks sort of a major turning point for this lawsuit, though it wasn’t completely dropped like the one that was being brought by Chimicles and Tikellis LLP, a second law firm which was pursuing a case over defects with some of the same LG devices.