Samurai Mini Smoke Alarm Recall Lawsuit Filed Over Malfunction Risk

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A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in the wake of the January 2025 recall of about 328,000 Samurai mini smoke alarms over concerns that the products can malfunction and fail to alert consumers in the event of a fire.

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The 28-page lawsuit alleges defendant Three61 continued to advertise its Samurai mini smoke alarms as safe, functional, life-saving devices that would activate reliably in the presence of smoke despite receiving multiple reports about the products’ defective alarms. According to the filing, the company’s failure to warn consumers about the potential safety hazard, or promptly recall the smoke alarms, placed them at risk of smoke inhalation or death.

Three61 eventually issued a recall on January 16, 2025, covering Samurai-branded mini smoke alarms, model number SM1, sold exclusively by HSN between July 2020 and November 2024. A recall announcement published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges consumers to register online for a free replacement alarm and to dispose of the recalled products’ “potentially hazardous” lithium-ion batteries in accordance with any local and state ordinances.

Per the recall notice, smoke sensitivity tests conducted by the CPSC indicated that the alarms, sold in packs of two or three and which reportedly retail for between $40 and $50, come equipped with a detector that failed to sound an alert when exposed to predetermined concentrations of smoke.

The CPSC said Three61 had received eight reports of the alarms failing to activate in the presence of smoke, with no injuries reported.

The Samurai smoke alarm recall lawsuit contends that anyone who purchased the “worthless and dangerous” products has suffered damages, including economic losses and risk of personal injury. The plaintiff, a Nevada resident, says he would not have bought the Samurai mini smoke alarm, or paid as much for it, had he known the product could malfunction and pose a risk of smoke inhalation or death.

“[The defendant] engaged in fraudulent and deceptive conduct by devising and executing a scheme to deceptively convey that their products were safe,” the filing contends. “[The defendant’s] actions were done to gain a commercial advantage over competitors, and to drive consumers, like the Plaintiff and Class Members, away from purchasing a competitor’s product.”

The lawsuit looks to represent all United States residents who purchased the recalled Samurai-branded mini smoke alarms, model number SM1, from July 2020 through November 2024.

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