Court dismisses scaled-back lawsuit over texts misdirected by Apple's iMessage

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in iPhone
A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Apple over the company's iMessage system, which can misdirect texts once iPhone owners switch over to Android, a report said on Wednesday.




Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple's motion for summary judgment in the case after the company discovered that two of the three remaining plaintiffs had only gotten rid of their iPhones after they filed suit, thus making them unable to show whether texts sent to their phone numbers went to the right device, according to Business Insider.

One of the plaintiffs, Bouakhay Joy Backhaut, previously claimed that a fellow plaintiff -- husband Adam Backhaut -- had traded in her iPhone when buying a new Android device. A friend of the couple, Kenneth Morris, was the third plaintiff. Bouakhay at one point asked to be dismissed as a named plaintiff.

The case once had other plaintiffs and was potentially poised to become a class action, but in August Koh declined to grant it that status, saying it would've been "overbroad" because not every person was impacted in the same way, and there might've been varying reasons why texts couldn't be delivered.

At the root of the case is a very real issue. iMessage links a user's iPhone number with his or her Apple ID, and when fellow iPhone owners send a text, the message is preferentially delivered through Apple's network instead of SMS. If a person simply ports their number to a phone on a different platform, texts from iPhone owners may still be delievered to that Apple ID.

Apple was hit with many complaints, and the company's solution was ultimately just a Web tool for deregistering iMessage, and warnings to deactivate both iMessage and FaceTime before switching to a new device.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    steviestevie Posts: 956member
    Apple did nothing wrong.  Of course the suit was dismissed.  These Android users just want to hurt Apple.
  • Reply 2 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    stevie said:
    Apple did nothing wrong.  Of course the suit was dismissed.  These Android users just want to hurt Apple.
    The primary reason it was dismissed is there were no longer any plaintiffs. Two of the original three no longer had iPhones and the third didn't want to be part of it anyway. In any event hasn't Apple corrected that now? I think they have.
    edited December 2015 jbdragonmaxit
  • Reply 3 of 21
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Wow. They filed suit first then replaced their iPhones? That should be considered plaintiff fraud. 
    chiajbdragon
  • Reply 4 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    jungmark said:
    Wow. They filed suit first then replaced their iPhones? That should be considered plaintiff fraud. 
    Yes, they had iPhones when they'd filed but betwixt then and now they got rid of them. Therefor they have no way to prove where the messages actually went, their iPhone or Android one.

    It was silly court filings from the get-go IMHO. Far too many lawsuits for imaginary harm nowadays. Perhaps folks should just work harder at real jobs like we all used to instead of searching for big windfalls from lawsuits, insurance claims, and lotteries. 
    jbdragon
  • Reply 5 of 21
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,950member
    I've had iMessage issues similar but not exactly like what these folks were experiencing, but not with Droids. My brother switched to Windows phone and can't get group texts, but still gets direct texts. Then I had a friend who still had a BB and he could get the group texts, but the friend with the iPhone wouldn't. Then once BB friend switched to iPhone the other guy started getting the group texts. Very strange.
    edited December 2015
  • Reply 6 of 21
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    Even if iMessage did have a bug...

    All software has bugs. You can't sue the manufacturer for every bug. There has to be some legal limit or definition on what is a "sue-able offense."
  • Reply 7 of 21
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,375member
    If my spouse traded in my iPhone for an Android device a few missing texts would be the least of my complaints. That's one cruel and uncaring dude. Judge Lucy should have ordered an official court sponsored smack down on that dude. 
    jbdragonbrakkenSpamSandwichapplepieguy
  • Reply 8 of 21
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    And the scumbag, bottom feeding lawyers should be thrown in jail for recruiting plaintiffs under false pretenses, and for attempting to commit fraud. Thrown in along with their clients - oops, paid participants.
    edited December 2015 jbdragon
  • Reply 9 of 21
    prolineproline Posts: 222member
    slprescott said:
    Even if iMessage did have a bug...

    All software has bugs. You can't sue the manufacturer for every bug. There has to be some legal limit or definition on what is a "sue-able offense."
    Exactly. The appropriate way to deal with products that are flawed or not very good is to take your lumps and buy a better product from somebody else. Leave a nasty review if you must. The last thing society needs is for every single person who isn't happy with their purchase to be dealing with it through expensive litigation that then drives up the cost of everything. Of course in this case the product is fine and the bug, while very frustrating, is the kind of thing that happens from time to time in the current age of computer systems being relatively new.
    cornchip
  • Reply 10 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    proline said:

    The last thing society needs is for every single person who isn't happy with their purchase to be dealing with it through expensive litigation that then drives up the cost of everything.
    This could be dealt with by requiring the plaintiffs to pay the court costs of the defendants if the case is dismissed or lost. That’s the norm in other countries.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,054member
    It's fucking free service...meaning you don't have to use it or use it with whatever it is. iMessage was never a default messenger. Users choose to activate it during set up. Go and sue FTA TV because sometimes you don't get clear signals or the signal may interfere with your sunscribed TV channels.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    prolineproline Posts: 222member
    lkrupp said:
    proline said:

    The last thing society needs is for every single person who isn't happy with their purchase to be dealing with it through expensive litigation that then drives up the cost of everything.
    This could be dealt with by requiring the plaintiffs to pay the court costs of the defendants if the case is dismissed or lost. That’s the norm in other countries.
    An approach that sounds good in theory but isn't so good in practice. For example, would the plaintiff also have to pay for the services of the court itself? If not, then everyone's taxes go up for failed lawsuits. If so, then the cost of the court's time plus a reasonable amount for the defendant to research and prepare a solid case could easily be in the hundreds of thousands. Such a system would work only in the sense of making legal recourse impossible for all but the wealthy. Far better is to deal with frivolous suits like this one quickly and harshly so that nobody, rich or poor, is tempted to file lawsuits over trivial inconveniences.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    tommikeletommikele Posts: 599member
    I am shocked Judge Koh who has proven time and time again she will go to no end to be unfair to Apple has actually made an intelligent decision regarding Apple.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    tommikeletommikele Posts: 599member
    lkrupp said:
    proline said:

    The last thing society needs is for every single person who isn't happy with their purchase to be dealing with it through expensive litigation that then drives up the cost of everything.
    This could be dealt with by requiring the plaintiffs to pay the court costs of the defendants if the case is dismissed or lost. That’s the norm in other countries.
    So you think civil justice should be dependent on how much financial risk you can take/tolerate? Your generalization regarding the non-criminal systems in other countries is quite inaccurate. I am fairly familiar with most of the European systems and there is no across the board, with no discretion, rule as you infer there is. Making justice dependent on a persons economic situation is ridiculous and will only lead to even more manipulation of the system. Perhaps, adding a layer similar to what the criminal system does where charges are evaluated for their validity before a case can move forward, would be the answer. But a blanket "you pay everything if you don't win" rule is as absurd as the current system is and it would only tilt the system even further out of whack than it already is.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    macky the mackymacky the macky Posts: 4,801member
    gatorguy said:
    stevie said:
    Apple did nothing wrong.  Of course the suit was dismissed.  These Android users just want to hurt Apple.
    The primary reason it was dismissed is there were no longer any plaintiffs. Two of the original three no longer had iPhones and the third didn't want to be part of it anyway. In any event hasn't Apple corrected that now? I think they have.
    We had something similar happen here where I live. Each summer the city hosts a "March of the Virgins" parade. Two of the entrants were sick and the other one refused to march alone.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,053member
    Hopefully the 3 plaintiffs still got paid for their role in this charade. It's not their fault that the law firm (that was suing Apple) didn't do their homework, before handing them the script.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    singularitysingularity Posts: 1,328member
    Considering some of the comments about luck by some past members. Does this mean she's accepted a back hand from Apple for this judgement as, according to some she is totally corrupt and can't make the correct decision?
  • Reply 18 of 21
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,295member
    When you leave the eco-system you must suffer.  You have to have iMessage linked to something other than a phone number so it can be routed into something more secure. Judge Koh did the right thing.  And no the plaintiffs don't deserve any quarter for their participation.  As I remember they are related to the litigators.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    maxitmaxit Posts: 222member
    As usual users blaming apple for their ignorance.... It doesn't deserve any legal action 
  • Reply 20 of 21
    maxitmaxit Posts: 222member
    cornchip said:
    I've had iMessage issues similar but not exactly like what these folks were experiencing, but not with Droids. My brother switched to Windows phone and can't get group texts, but still gets direct texts. Then I had a friend who still had a BB and he could get the group texts, but the friend with the iPhone wouldn't. Then once BB friend switched to iPhone the other guy started getting the group texts. Very strange.
    My second SIM was in an iPhone for 2 straight years, using iMessage. Now it is in a Nokia 1520. It works flawlessly.
    you just have to switch it off and sign out from iCloud before wiping the iPhone 
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