Mobile

First iPhone 4 Class Action Suit Filed Against Apple And AT&T

1:12PM July 1, 2010 | Jesus Diaz

The first iPhone 4 class action suit against Apple and AT&T has been filed today in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The lawsuit focus on the antenna design problems, making several claims. Updated.

• General Negligence (APPLE and AT&T)
• Defect in Design, Manufacture, and Assembly (APPLE)
• Breach of Express Warranty (APPLE)
• Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability (APPLE and AT&T)
• Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose (APPLE and AT&T)
• Deceptive Trade Practices (APPLE and AT&T)
• Intentional Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
• Negligent Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
• Fraud by Concealment (APPLE and AT&T)

Apple has been criticised by iPhone 4 users and media for the antenna reception problems that seem to result from its design. Complains started to appear in MacRumors and Gizmodo one day before the official launch of the iPhone 4, from users who received their units earlier.

After that initial reports, thousands of users started to report reception and transmission problems in different countries around the world, which resulted in loss of internet connections and voice call drops and voice quality degradation.

The lawsuit was filed by Ward & Ward P.L.L.C. on behalf of Kevin McCaffrey, Linda Wrinn and a number of other iPhone 4 users. It is not the same iPhone 4 class action lawsuit currently in the works by the California law firm that sued Facebook and Zynga.

Update

Apparently, this is not the first federal lawsuit. Several other federal lawsuits have appeared:

June 29
• Goodglick v Apple is filed by Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff LLP in the Northern District of California.
• Ngyuen v Apple is filed in the Southern District of Texas.

June 30
• McCaffrey v Apple is filed in the District of Maryland.
• Benvenisty v Apple is filed in the Northern District of California.
• Dydyk v Apple is filed in the Northern District of California.

The District of Maryland complaint

Comments

  • Wade

    July 1, 2010 at 2:21 PM

    Wow, okay, now I am seriously considering an Android phone. I hope they fix the problem before it arrives in Aus…when is that anyway, still no one knows.

    • Simon Reidy

      July 1, 2010 at 3:51 PM

      Before you make a decision, you should check out Anand’s extremely detailed review of the iPhone 4 : http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review

      He’s the only one to have approached the antenna problem scientifically, with some very interesting results. There’s certainly a problem there when held in a certain way, but as the review illustrates the issue is not as bad as people are making out, and the phone makes up for it with extremely good coverage overall.

      In addition you can solve the antenna problem with the simple addition of a (admittedly overpriced) bumper case, which also helps protect the phone.

      I was in two minds about it too, but I’ve decided I’m still getting an iPhone 4 for sure.

      • boc

        July 1, 2010 at 11:31 PM

        AnandTech isn’t the only one to do a proper test. Didn’t you read the earlier post today on Gizmodo?

        AnandTech actually is saying it’s as bad as what everyone is saying. Only they’re being a bit more sensible in how they say it.

        Their review basically states if you have 5 bars of reception then you see a drop in signal quality but, the phone is still okay. The less bars you have normally the bigger drop and the worse the effect becomes.

        I don’t know about you but, I don’t always get 5 bars when I’m out and about. I think the real point is that this happens at all when you hold the phone in what most people consider a natural position to hold your phone.

        @JonBOY26
        You can guarantee there will be a hardware revision. I don’t see the sense of anyone jumping in early to get a broken device when it’s guaranteed a fixed revision is going to be released.

    • JonBOY26

      July 1, 2010 at 4:52 PM

      Looks like iPhone 4 is slated for release in AUS on July 23rd, which is a Friday, conveniently giving everybody the weekend the flock to Apple stores.

      I ‘flocked’ for the 3GS, and given that it works flawlessly I sure WONT be flocking for the iPhone 4. Surely there will have to be hardware revision by Apple (probably only minor, such as a plastic coating on the antenna), and when that happens I’ll be more interested in iPhone 4.

  • GarageKid

    July 1, 2010 at 6:51 PM

    Rumor has it from the UK that the bumper cover is now…. free to new purchases. However, I stress, it is a rumor.

  • Darren

    July 1, 2010 at 8:30 PM

    Well, it seems to be “Hate Apple” month. I wonder if the plaintiffs tried to return their phones and Apple has refused. If this is the case they should go the the relevant consumer authority. If they haven’t tried to return it maybe they should and go and get an Android phone or wait for Windows Phone 7. If a product is faulty return it and buy a competitors product. I have always wondered about people who have Xboxes and rave about how good they are even though they have had to have them replaced several times.

    The media seems to be all over this but I didn’t hear much about any similar legal action against Microsoft(Xbox), Palm(Pre) and Dell. Surely they are just as bad as Apple.

    And when you report that thousands of users have had problems please tell us how many thousands. 17,000 complaints would be 1% of the 1.7 million handsets sold. This would still put Apple way behind the Xbox, Palm Pre, recent Dell computers and more than 500,000 Sony Vaio’s just recalled. Please put this in perspective.

    It seems to me that people get wizzed off when they buy a faulty product. Most of us would return it and get our money back and buy an alternative. But then there are some who want blood and love to clog up the courts with petty issues that could be solved by simply getting their money back.

    • boc

      July 2, 2010 at 12:05 AM

      - Breach of Express Warranty (APPLE)
      - Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability (APPLE and AT&T)

      Would cover attempts to return the iPhone for exchange or refund. So I’m guessing at least one of them tried and failed.

      A quick google shows class action suits against those companies and the media does cover them. Just maybe not the media that you look at most of the time.

      XBox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems

      Dell: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/dell_suit.html

      Palm: http://www.databreaches.net/?p=8780

      Also, the media is all over Apple whenever they announce anything. So much so that it’s a ton of free advertising for Apple. It’s only fair that the media is all over Apple whenever they screw up.

      Sony didn’t recall 500,000 Vaios. You either misread or didn’t read up on it at all. Sony issued a firmware update to address an issue that affected 500,000 laptops across two models. They acted upon this after receiving 40 complaints.

      That is to say 0.008% of purchasers complained about an issue and Sony fixed it.

      Even with your random 1% that you used for your example, Sony is *way ahead* of Apple, 125 times further ahead.

      Sony did exactly what they should have done. Do you think Apple would do the same thing for 0.008% of their customers?

      How about putting that in perspective.

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