British Columbia’s Supreme Court has approved a multi-million dollar nationwide settlement of a class action lawsuit against Apple over a software update that allegedly slowed down older iPhones.
“We are satisfied with the outcome,” said KS Garcha, the group’s lawyer. “It was a complicated issue.”
Galusha said in an interview that the judge in the case approved the settlement at a hearing Tuesday.
Depending on the number of people who submit settlement claims, class participants in the $14.4 million settlement can each expect to receive between $17.50 and $150, he said.
The agreement covers eligible residents of Canada, excluding Quebec, which Galusha said is about 9 million residents.
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Garrucha said the settlement process took several years and that Apple agreed to a “compromise” without admitting any wrongdoing.
Going to trial without a settlement could have “taken a long time,” he said.
“The court may not accept part of your claim, there may be problems with how damages are quantified, and there is a possibility of an appeal,” he said.
The company “strongly defended this matter until settlement negotiations began,” Galusha added.
He said the class action lawsuit involves a new legal theory that the company installs software on devices without the owner’s consent.
People who owned iPhone models covered by the settlement have six months to file a claim, and the online process requires their name, address, and iPhone serial number.
You must also declare under oath that you downloaded or installed certain software updates on various iPhone 6 and 7 models before December 21, 2017.
You may also have experienced “decreased performance on your device after installing or downloading the relevant iOS version.”
Under the settlement agreement with Apple, the company will pay between $11,137,500 and $14,427,500, depending on the number of claims and approvals.
According to the claims website for the Canadian iPhone Power Management Class Action Lawsuit, Quebec residents are excluded from the settlement due to a separate ongoing lawsuit in Quebec courts.
The B.C. lawsuit was originally filed in 2018, and Apple has settled a similar lawsuit in the U.S. over so-called throttling in iPhone 6 and 7 models, and Garrucha said U.S. class members will ultimately He said he received a payment of $92.
At a hearing in Vancouver in late January, Apple lawyer Jill Yates told the court the company had never admitted wrongdoing.
“Apple has consistently taken the position that they have done nothing wrong here,” she said. “These allegations are new and do not imply that Apple agrees that anything was done fraudulently.”
The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the settlement approval.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
