sylv1rob1/Shutterstock

Printers: They can be a real pain in the butt.

Who among us has not, at some point in time, wanted to smash a malfunctioning printer?

One Houston law firm took a different route—a lawsuit seeking $100,000—when its HP printer broke, and the firm felt HP Inc. wasn't honoring its warranty by refusing to send a service technician to the office.

The litigation among The Cweren Law Firm, HP and a sales representative reached the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas after HP removed it to federal court. But it started in a Harris County Court-at-Law back in 2018.

The law firm bought an HP Color Laser Jet printer and a five-year warranty that promised in-person repairs, parts and service “at your door the very same business day,” said the June 2018 first amended petition in Cweren Law Firm v. HP. The company refused to send an on-site service person. The printing problem interfered with the busy firm's ability to conduct business, the petition said. The firm is suing the defendants for breach of contract, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of express warranty. It seeks to recover actual damages, attorney fees, interest and court costs.

The defendants denied all of the allegations in an amended answer in February. They argued the law firm didn't give examples to support allegations of how the printer problem interfered with business or caused economic damages. The answer argued that the warranty limits HP's liability for the alleged damages.

“Any alleged failure of HP to perform its obligations under the warranty is excused because plaintiff prevented HP from performing its obligations,” said the answer.

Brian Cweren, who founded the Cweren firm and is representing it in the lawsuit, said he paid $900 for the printer and between $1,100 to $1,200 for the warranty. From the get-go, paper would jam and it took an hour or even until the next day to print documents. Firm employees were tied up for hours on the phone with a foreign call center that offered troubleshooting tips that didn't work. The frustration culminated one day when the firm needed to print several large jobs and the printer delivered one page every three to four minutes, he said. When the firm demanded that HP honor the warranty by sending an on-site technician, Cweren said the company repeatedly refused to do it, even when he warned that he would sue.

“They took my money, and basically laughed at me,” Cweren said. “I feel like we were purely abused by them.”

While the case was still in county court-at-law, the parties had a discovery dispute. A judge ordered HP to respond fully to the firm's discovery requests and pay $2,500 in attorney fees.

Cweren said HP removed the case to federal court shortly afterward, and he thinks it's the wrong venue for the dispute.

“They don't like that judge's ruling, so they will go shopping for another judge,” he said.

The federal docket in the case includes an exhibit of emails between Cweren and HP Commercial Litigation Counsel Brad Hartz. Hartz wrote on April 4 that Cweren paid less than $2,000 for the printer and $900 for the warranty. He could recover the $900 for the warranty, but no lost profits or downtime, Hartz wrote.

He noted that Cweren's associate called HP on April 30, 2018, and that HP sent a technician the next day, but the firm wouldn't let the technician in. Hartz wrote that an HP sales representative received a “threatening email” and the firm waited less than one hour before it filed its lawsuit on May 1, 2018.

Hartz declined to comment, and so did HP's lawyer, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius associate Lewis Smith.

Cweren said the company isn't telling an accurate story about what happened.

He said, “They need to honor their commitment to me.”