Apple agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by customers who claimed it knew and concealed that the "butterfly" keyboards on its MacBook laptop computers were prone to failure.
The proposed preliminary settlement was filed late Monday
night in the federal court in San Jose, California, and requires a judge's
approval. Customers claimed that MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro keyboards
suffered from sticky and unresponsive keys, and that tiny amounts of dust or
debris could make it difficult to type.
They also said Apple's service program was inadequate
because the Cupertino, California-based company often provided replacement
keyboards with the same problems.
The settlement covers customers who bought MacBook, MacBook
Air and most MacBook Pro models between 2015 and 2019 in seven U.S. states:
California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington.
Apple denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. It did not
immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment.
Lawyers for the customers expect maximum payouts of $395 to
people who replaced multiple keyboards, $125 to people who replaced one keyboard, and $50 to
people who replaced key caps.
Customers also remain eligible for four years of free
keyboard repairs following their purchases.
The customers' law firms, Girard Sharp LLP and Chimicles
Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP, may seek up to $15 million for legal
fees, which would be deducted from the $50 million settlement fund, court
papers show.
The case is in re: MacBook Keyboard Litigation, U.S.
District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-02813.
Meanwhile, Apple was sued on Monday in a proposed class
action by payment card issuers accusing the iPhone maker of abusing its market
power in mobile devices to thwart competition for its Apple Pay mobile wallet.
According to a complaint filed in San Francisco federal
court, Apple "coerces" consumers who use its smartphones, smart
watches and tablets into using its own wallet for contactless payments, unlike
makers of Android-based devices that let consumers choose wallets such as
Google Pay and Samsung Pay. © Reuters
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