Rooms-to-go is a US nationwide retailer of furniture.

A friend's sofa, purchased from Rooms-to-go lasted just over
one year under normal use. Unfortunately, the warranty was only
for one year. My friend seemed to believe that the sofa was
defective, because of the material used for the stuffing, and
other factors.

I explained to my friend that small claims court would
be a big hassle, and he would probably lose because it had been
over a year.  In any event, the damages could be only $200-$300
or so.

From PlanetFeedback.com, I learned
that many customers were unhappy with Rooms-To-Go over 
poor customer service, defective workmanship, and delivery
of damaged "new" furniture.  It occurred to me that this kind
of behavior might generate class action suits.

Therefore, my question is (1) whether any consumer-related class-action
lawsuits are active against Rooms To Go, and if so, (2) who is in
charge of admitting additional persons into the class?

Hi,

In order to determine whether there were any current class actions
pending against this company I did a search with Google using the
keywords "class action" +"rooms-to-go". This revealed no such action
pending.  However, the results were minimal so I followed up the
company via Hoovers Company Information ( http://www.hoovers.com ) and
found their Head Office located in Seffner, Florida.  As they are a
Florida based company I telephoned the Supreme Court in Florida for
further information, and, thanks to a very helpful person at the other
end of the phone, was able to determine that there was no class action
pending. A further check, to be sure, with Big Class Action also
revealed no current action against this company. This is a very
informative site if you need to find out about current class actions
and can be found at http://www.bigclassaction.com/

You may want to do a little more looking at the Small Claims Court as
the time limit actually appears to be two years for lodging a claim. 
Consumer Affairs has a very good guide to the procedure for Small
Claims which can be found at:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/small_claim_01.htm as well
as a state by state breakdown of the individual courts at:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/small_states.htm which
could be very helpful to you.

A search with Google using the keywords "rooms-to-go" +complaints
reveals a large number of complaints and people who are unhappy with
this particular company. I would suggest you read through a few of
them as this may help your friend in making a decision to go to Small
Claims or not.  Please use this link to find them:
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=rooms%2Dto%2Dgo+%2Bcomplaints

If you wish to consider instituting a class action yourself, then Big
Class Action is a very informative and helpful site. I would suggest
you start here: http://www.bigclassaction.com/index.html

Their FAQ is comprehensive and they have ample information available
should you be interested in lodging a complaint or initiating a class
action yourself against this company.

Other links of interest may be:
http://www.peopleslawyer.net/smallclaims/ - How to sue in the Small
Claims Court

Please let me know if you require any further clarification.
milamba-ga

very complete and quite helpful

Dear drpauljbrewer-ga
If you have not done so already have a look at the Better Business
Bureaus of which Rooms-to-Go seems to be a member in most areas. They
record complaints against companies and possibly arbitrate and resolve
complaints.
http://www.bbb.org/
answerfinder-ga google researcher.