Toshiba pays US govt $33.5m for ‘defective’ laptops

But admits nothing

By Linda Harrison in New York • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 16th October 2000 15:36 GMT

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Toshiba has agreed to cough up $33.5 million to settle a lawsuit in the US over potentially dodgy laptops.

The settlement will consist of $23 million cash and $10.5 million in Toshiba product coupons, the US Department of Justice said on Friday.

The class-action lawsuit involves machines sold to US government agencies and alleges that a defect caused undetected data corruption when data was switched to and from floppy disks. According to the government this increased when multiple programmes were running.

Toshiba hasn't admitted to anything, or even acknowledged a defect in its laptops. But it has issued a software patch to stop any malfunctions by floppy disk controllers in about 60,000 of its machines sold to the government since 1998, AP reported.

"This settlement is an example of the Justice Department's determination to ensure that goods and services provided to the United States government meet the highest possible standards and are free of defect," said David Ogden, chief of the Justice Department's civil division.

According to the Justice Department, the move released Toshiba from liability under the False Claims Act for the sale of the laptops. ®