Please scroll down to see the answers to the following "Frequently Asked Questions":

1.         What is a class action?

2.         What is a class representative?

3.         How do class members participate?

4.         What are the duties of a class representative?

5.         What is the difference between a state class action and a nationwide class action?

6.         I live in another state and I was harmed. Can I participate?

7.         Why did you say that you were only seeking California residents?

8.         Now that you filed the lawsuit, are you seeking other persons to act as class representatives? If I am interested in being a class representative, what are my duties?

9.         I read that you are only seeking people who fall into specific categories. One of the ways I was harmed is not in your list. Can I file a claim for my harm?

10.       Now that you filed the lawsuit, what happens next?

11.       I do not see a specific amount of money in your court papers that Apple is being sued for. Why?

12.       I know of a newspaper article or other source of information that is more accurate or relevant to one of the footnotes in your complaint against Apple. Will this help?

13.       What are the seven categories of harm alleged by consumers?

Frequently Asked Questions

1.    What is a class action?

A class action allows one or more persons—the class representatives—to sue on behalf of a group of other persons—the class members—when it is shown to be necessary and superior to filing multiple-separate lawsuits. The court considers whether the proposed class representatives share the same common goal—questions of law and fact—with the class members or when the number of persons harmed is so large, that it is not practical for all of the class members to appear in court and testify.

For example, consider that 10,000 people wanted to file a lawsuit against one company for the same harm. Without a class action, all 10,000 would have to pay a separate filing fee of $320 in California court, find a lawyer to represent them, and appear in court to testify. It may not be practical to have all 10,000 people appear in court to testify. If each person testified in court for five minutes, it would take 833 hours. Further, the filing fees paid to the court for 10,000 separate lawsuits would be $3.2 million compared to the $870 filing fee for one class action.

Although California court rules require litigants to write the terms “Class Action” on the complaint, a lawsuit is technically not a class action at the time it is filed. Instead, it becomes a class action after the court designates the case as a class action through a process known as “certification proceedings.” A certification proceeding is a hearing before the court where each party has an opportunity to argue whether the requirements for a class action have been met and whether it would be a fair and efficient way of litigating the particular claim. The hearing is likely to take place a few months after the case is filed because each party is given an opportunity to conduct discovery proceedings before the actual hearing. Discovery proceedings are a formal exchange between parties of documents and information that is relevant to the lawsuit. Each party has a right to request information from the other to aid in the preparation of the case.

2.      What is a class representative?

A class representative is one or more persons who share things in common with the rest of the group that has been harmed—the class members. The class representatives file the lawsuit in their own names and sue on behalf of the larger class members, whether that group consists of a few hundred people to 10,000 or more. This is done in one lawsuit, rather than multiple lawsuits. If the lawsuit is successful, the entire group of people obtains the benefit. This type of lawsuit is known as a “class action.”

3.      How do class members participate?

Class members need not personally appear in court or hire counsel, but they can as discussed below. Due process requires that class members receive adequate notice of the proceedings, the opportunity to “opt out,” and that their interests be adequately represented.

Class members not named as parties to the action are entitled to due process protection if their rights are to be adjudicated. At a minimum,

a.      Class members must be given notice of the proceedings, and an opportunity to be heard and participate (in person or through counsel); and

b.      Class members’ interests must be adequately represented by the named plaintiff or plaintiffs; and

c.      Class members must be given the opportunity to exclude themselves from the class by executing and returning to the court an “opt out” form. They need not, however, affirmatively request inclusion to become bound by the class action judgment.

4.      What are the duties of a class representative?

One of the most important ingredients of a class action is a willing class representative. A class representative must be willing to be the representative for all other “similarly situated” persons. This means people who have the same problem with the same defendant as you do.  A class representative may have separate claims in addition to the claims typical of the class, but a class representative cannot have claims that directly conflict with the alleged class claims.

A class representative has a duty of undivided loyalty to the class. In order to protect the interests of all class members, the class representative must take his or her duties extremely seriously. As a class representative, the Court requires that you will adequately and fairly represent the class. This is your duty. You can read more about how you are expected to accomplish that duty here.

5.      What is the difference between a “state class action” and a “nationwide class action”?

A state class action only involves residents in one state. So for example, a California class action would only include residents of California. A nationwide class action can be filed in one state, but it involves residents from multiple states. So for example, a lawsuit can be filed in California that would benefit citizens from all 50 states.

Just like a lawsuit must be “certified” or approved by the court to be given the status of a “class action”—as discussed in What is a class action? above—nationwide status must also be certified or approved by the court. In determining whether a class action should be given nationwide status, the court considers whether it will result in substantial benefits both to the persons involved in the lawsuit and to the courts. One of the issues the court considers is whether conflicts exist with other states’ laws on numerous issues such that it would not be superior to give a class action a nationwide status.

6.      I live in another state and I was harmed. Can I participate?

We will be asking that the court designate the lawsuit as a “nationwide class action” so that all United States residents can benefit, not just California residents. To achieve this goal, we are required to go through a process known as a “certification proceeding” as discussed above in What is the difference between a state class action and a nationwide class action. The court will then have a hearing where it will determine whether the action should proceed as a nationwide class action rather than just a California class action.

If you live in a state other than California, we will be requesting to the court that you participate as a class member. At this time, we are not seeking class representatives from other states.

7.      Why did you say that you were only seeking California residents?

The reason why our web page stated that we were seeking California residents has to do with lawyer-advertising rules. Each state has different rules that regulate how lawyers can advertise to the public. In order to avoid violating these rules, attorneys must be aware of the conflicts among the rules of different states, and must comply with the rules of each state that apply and impose additional or stricter requirements than those found in California. Lawyers must recognize the possibility that the advertising rules of other states may apply to their Internet web site even if the lawyer is licensed only by California and intends to practice only in California.

Rather than invest the time to research and learn the rules of all 50 states, we chose to direct our communications to California residents only. If we directed our communication to citizens from all 50 states, we could unknowingly violate another state’s rules. Instead, we focused our efforts on locating a class representative from California, with the intent to thereafter request that the court allow our lawsuit to proceed as a nationwide class action lawsuit that will benefit all United States’ citizens.

8.      Now that you filed the lawsuit, are you seeking other persons to act as class representatives? If I am interested in being a class representative, what are my duties?

Yes, we are still seeking additional California residents to participate as class representatives for this lawsuit for the reasons set forth below.

Under California law, two basic requirements must exist to sustain a class action. The first is existence of an ascertainable class, and the second is a well-defined community of interest in the questions of law and fact involved. The “community of interest” requirement embodies three separate factors: (1) predominant common questions of law or fact, (2) class representatives whose claims or defenses are typical of the class, and (3) class representatives who can adequately represent the class.

The class representative or representatives must be capable of “vigorously and tenaciously” protecting the interests of the class members. The persons named as plaintiffs are fiduciaries for the class. A fiduciary is a person who has the power and obligation to act for another under circumstances which require total trust, good faith and honesty. A fiduciary is held to a standard of conduct and trust above that of a stranger or of a casual business person. He or she must avoid “self-dealing” or “conflicts of interests” in which the potential benefit to the fiduciary is in conflict with what is best for the person who trusts him or her. In a class action, the best interest of the class member must be primary, and absolute candor is required of the fiduciary.

It is important to have more than one class representative in this case so that all class members are represented. Further, the class representatives must be approved by the court so it is important that we select those who are best qualified.

9.      I read that you are only seeking people who fall into specific categories. One of the ways I was harmed is not in your list. Can I get compensated for my harm?

If you were harmed in a way that is not in our list, please send us an email and let us know. We may add it to our list. The way that we learn how consumers have been harmed is from consumers.

10.    Now that you filed the lawsuit, what happens next?

We expect the lawsuit to proceed as follows:

1.         Apple has 30 days to file a response to the lawsuit from the time it is served with the court papers.

2.         One or more case conferences between the court and counsel for the parties may be held to discuss class issues, conduct and scheduling of discovery, scheduling of hearings, and other matters. The conference may be held at any time after the defendant has appeared. At the conclusion of the conference, the court may make an order:

a.         Approving any agreements of the parties;

b.         Establishing a schedule for discovery (including whether class discovery should precede merits discovery);

c.         Setting a date for a hearing on class certification;

d.         Setting the dates for any subsequent conferences; and

e.         Addressing any other matters related to management of the case.

3.         A case management conference is scheduled on February 8, 2008 at 10:00 AM in Department 17, 161 North First Street, San Jose, California. The purpose of the case management conference is for the court to evaluate the case and make various orders that will guide its management.

11.    I do not see a specific amount of money in your court papers that Apple is being sued for. Why?

In California, it is not necessary to state a specific amount of money sought in a lawsuit. It is sufficient to state that that one is seeking a dollar amount according to proof at trial. We do not yet know the exact number of iPhone owners and the exact number of consumers damaged by the iPhone update. For these reasons, there is no mention in the complaint of a specific dollar amount. 

12.    I know of a newspaper article or other source of information that is more accurate or relevant to one of the footnotes in your complaint against Apple. Will this help?

Please advise us of any websites or newspaper articles that you believe may be a more reliable source of information for any of the footnotes cited in the complaint filed against Apple. You may contact us at attorney@appleiphonelawsuit.com.

13.    What are the eight categories of harm alleged by consumers?

We allege at least eight ways in which consumers have been harmed by Apple. There may be other ways. If there are, please let us know so that we can consider them for inclusion in this lawsuit.

1.      You own an iPhone and you want to transfer to a wireless carrier other than AT&T. You fall into this category even if you did not unlock your iPhone or have your iPhone disabled by an iPhone update.

2.      Your iPhone was disabled, malfunctioned, or you had third-party applications erased after you downloaded iPhone update 1.1.1.

3.      You contacted Apple to repair your iPhone and Apple refused to honor your warranty because you did any one the following: (a) unlocked your iPhone, or (b) installed a third party application.

4.      You incurred a cancellation fee from your previous wireless carrier when you transferred to AT&T’s wireless service.

5.      You incurred roaming charges while traveling abroad with your iPhone.

6.      You purchased a third-party warranty at extra cost for your iPhone because of Apple’s released statement that it will not honor warranties on unlocked iPhones.

7.      You purchased a new iPhone because your previous iPhone was bricked.

8.      You returned your iPhone to Apple or AT&T and (1): You paid a 10% restocking fee; (2) You paid a $29 or
 other fee for a temporary replacement phone while your iPhone was being repaired. Some reasons for your
 return may include:

            (a) You opened the box and it didn’t work, 
            (b) You were dissatisfied with AT&T’s service, 
            (c) You were declined service with AT&T because you did not meet AT&T’s credit criteria; 
            (d) You did not know that you were required to sign with AT&T.  

You do not have to be in all of these categories, just one or more than one.

Please click here to submit a complaint about your iPhone. We will review your claim without charge or obligation and in confidence.