The Apple/AT and T class action lawsuit is the latest act in the iPhone 4G saga. After they sold 1.7 million iPhone 4Gs in just three days, consumer complaints about the iPhone “Death Grip” spread like wildfire. After getting Apple’s latest iPhone, reception issues traced to a faulty iPhone antenna design is apparently too much to bear for some. Many of the iPhone 4G users have teamed up with trolling lawyers to file four class action lawsuits against Apple and wireless provider AT and T in Delaware and California.
Source for this article: Apple/AT and T iPhone class action suit triggers stampede of lawyers by Personal Money Store
The iPhone 4G death grip saga
The Apple iPhone 4G has made for a lot of excessive consumer lust than any other product in memory. Sadly, the high expectations individuals have for Apple products is backfiring. As outlined by PC World, soon following the iPhone 4G began shipping to customers in late June, the legend of the iPhone 4 “death grip” was born. Complaints started to rise on the Internet saying that holding the phone with fingers covering the 3 black lines on the phone’s edge and also the bottom left corner caused its reception to fizzle.
For all of the plaintiffs, iPhone covers too little and too late
In response to the iPhone 4 death grip furor, Apple said that “gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance." Placing an iPhone cover or “bumper” on the iPhone 4 evidently eliminates death grip issues. Apple is prepping a software update that will stop these issues. But the iPhone cover and software fix isn't good enough for a few bitterly disappointed iPhone 4 users and various legal eagles ready to angle for the potentially lucrative angst of 1.7 million iPhoniphiles and counting.
Lawyers lust after Apple and AT and T’s money
Every one of the Apple/AT and T class action lawsuits are seeking punitive damages and an injunction from the continued manufacture and sale for the phones until the issue is fixed. As outlined by Macworld, of nine charges leveled in a case filed in Delaware against Apple and AT and T, only seven of them target AT and T and all nine apply to Apple: general negligence; defect in design, manufacture, and assembly; breach of express warranty; breach of implied warranty for merchantability; breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose; deceptive trade practices; intentional misrepresentation; negligent misrepresentation; and fraud by concealment.
Those disappointed iPhone users want legal satisfaction
In another Apple/AT and T class action lawsuit filed in California, Reuters reports that the deeply hurt plaintiffs have no other choice because Apple and AT and T have failed to provide customer support and, even worse, customers are left with only three remedies: ”hold their phones in an awkward and unnatural manner,” pay a 10 percent restocking fee and also like to return their phones, or pay $ 29.95 to buy the iPhone cover that is said to fix the reception problem.
Apple/AT and T class action lawsuits wanted by law firms
Neither Apple or AT and T has commented on the lawsuits. I would expect more lawsuits now that it is out. For example, Gawker posted on a Website for law firm Kershaw, Cutter and Ratinoff, that they’re looking for people who are having iPhone 4 reception problems in hopes of getting their fair share of this potential legal bonanza.
Citations:
PC World
pcmag.com/article2/,2817,2365940,00.asp
Macworld
macworld.com/article/152457/2010/07/gavel_iphone4.html
Reuters
reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6603R620100701
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