Judge dismisses lawsuit over allegedly faulty Apple MacBook logic boards

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2015
A California judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit claiming Apple sold MacBooks to customers knowing the laptops contained defective logic boards and would fail within two years.

MacBook Pro


In his order, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup agreed with Apple's motion to dismiss a suit from May 2014 alleging the company defrauded its customers through willful sale of faulty hardware and false advertisement. The judgment was first spotted by Reuters.

According to the ruling, plaintiffs Uriel Marcus and Benedict Verceles filed a class action complaint in Texas on behalf of all MacBook owners who bought their device after May 20, 2010. The original argument alleges Apple marketed, sold and continues to sell laptops with defective logic boards.
Apple knows about this logic board defect. Combining a defective product design and manufacturing plants in China that engage in human rights violations (including child labor) Defendant Apple and CEO Timothy Cook have known about the situation for years.
Plaintiffs cited numerous Online Apple Store "reviews" and Apple's own Support Communities forum as evidence that the company was aware of the issue. The suit avers that Apple "markets the reliability and functionality of the logic board" through its promotional campaigns. For example, the company labels its MacBook line as "state of the art," "breakthrough" and "the world's most advanced notebook."

However, Judge Alsup found no evidence that plaintiffs relied on Apple's statements when purchasing the products, a requirement for finding fraud under the case's scope. Further, Marcus and Verceles failed to prove Apple committed a breach of implied warranty as the pair used their computers for 18 months and two years, respectively. Verceles had his MacBook Pro replaced by Apple for a logic board failure, but that was covered under warranty.

Plaintiffs have until Jan. 22 to file an amended complaint that addresses Judge Alsup's findings.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42

    i guess apple have California judges on there payroll WOW!!!

  • Reply 2 of 42
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    How did the plaintiffs ever think they could win this?  Even if Apple knowingly sold faulty hardware (which is highly doubtful) how on earth do you plan on proving that in a court of law?!

  • Reply 3 of 42
    tomhayestomhayes Posts: 128member

    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?

     

    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.

     

    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)

  • Reply 4 of 42
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    My daughters early 2011 MBP with i7 and AMD 6750M only works if it never goes to sleep, usually. This model is the worst Mac we've ever purchased and there's no way to fix it. A replacement board might work or might not. Am I upset, yes. What can I do now? Probably nothing. The MBP lasted 3 years and a few months, not a great result for Apple products that usually last for a lot longer than this.
  • Reply 5 of 42
    ecatsecats Posts: 272member
    This lawsuit was nuts. If they just went for a high defect rate rather than an obscure conspiracy theory about planned obsolescence it might have gone somewhere.

    Involving child labour as an ad hominem red herring is nothing more than trying to strong arm the company into settlement.

    The evidence presented wasn't even appropriate for the claims being made.

    I firmly believe something should be done about these laptops, but this case had a thick coat crazy all over it.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    I just had to replace my logic board after two years, it gave no symptoms, just went out. $450 to fix.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    droidftw wrote: »
    How did the plaintiffs ever think they could win this?  Even if Apple knowingly sold faulty hardware (which is highly doubtful) how on earth do you plan on proving that in a court of law?!

    It is called a stupid lawyer. Stupid lawyers take on cases they just want to settle because they are greedy. They don't even do basic things such as investigate their own clients to see if they are worthy of filing the lawsuit (and in this case they were absolutely not). If they lose, then their clients still have to pay the legal bills. This may include Apple's legal bills too.
  • Reply 8 of 42
    zeus423zeus423 Posts: 231member
    I have a G4 PowerBook that is still working just fine to this day. I might not use it often at this point, but a few times a year I know I can rely on it to do the job. And while it's not a laptop, my PowerMac 7100 desktop still works too when called upon, with all original parts!
  • Reply 9 of 42
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    And one of the two plaintiffs had his replaced by Apple under warranty????

    That's priceless.
  • Reply 10 of 42
    rob53 wrote: »
    My daughters early 2011 MBP with i7 and AMD 6750M only works if it never goes to sleep, usually. This model is the worst Mac we've ever purchased and there's no way to fix it. A replacement board might work or might not. Am I upset, yes. What can I do now? Probably nothing. The MBP lasted 3 years and a few months, not a great result for Apple products that usually last for a lot longer than this.

    I also have this laptop. When it failed after 3 years and was out of warranty, I took it to my Apple Store and asked for Apple's flat rate repair program. For only $299 Apple will replace anything in the laptop that is not working to spec. They replaced the entire screen, the video board, the mother board, the expansion card cage, and even the RAM memory. It is an amazing deal that made my MacBook Pro 17" 2011 essentially brand new. You get a new 90 day warranty. My MacBook has been working fantastically since then.

    I recommend Apple's flat rate repair program. It is an absolute bargain.

    I've used it also on my MacBook Pro 17" 2008. And it too has been going on strongly since.
  • Reply 11 of 42
    M
    tomhayes wrote: »
    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?

    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.

    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)

    The plaintiff could not have charge fraud since his or her laptop was still under warranty at 18 months.

    Interestingly, most car warranties last only 3 years. Then you are on your own. You have to pay for everything wrong that wears out. And cars cost a heck more than computers.

    The customers with problems identified in the lawsuit are rare. If it was more widespread Apple would have instituted a recall - such as for iPhone chargers which were faulty or iMacs which recently had problems.

    Some people have become so neurotic however about their Macs that they expect perfection when such a thing doesn't exist.
  • Reply 12 of 42
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rob53 View Post



     Am I upset, yes. What can I do now? Probably nothing. 

     

    Leave the platform if you’re that upset. Why would you not? I won’t ever buy Firestone tires again because of something that happened over thirty years ago. You could give me a set of Firestone tires and I would hand them back to you.

     

    Do the right thing and buy a Dell with Windows 8.1. Bid Apple farewell. 

  • Reply 13 of 42
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tomhayes View Post

     

    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?

     

    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.

     

    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)




    Let's see, my newest Mac is seven years old now. Then I've got a nine year old MBP, a nine year old Mac Pro, a 12 year old PBG4, a 15 year old iBook, a 26 year old SE/30 (which works, needs a recap though), and a 24 year old Quadra 700. All working. The only Mac I've had die was a 17" PBG4, where the GPU actually melted to the heatsink.

     

    It was 11 years old though, well past its expected lifespan.

     

    Still, there have been heat issues, which is why I'm glad that Apple's worked to remove spinning parts from the MacBooks, as those generate heat.

  • Reply 14 of 42
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Apple has been on a roll recently in getting lawsuits dismissed. The karma is looking good for the iBooks judgement appeal.

  • Reply 15 of 42
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jameskatt2 View Post



    If they lose, then their clients still have to pay the legal bills. This may include Apple's legal bills too.

    Wrong and wrong.

    Learn about contingency fees. Then look up the American Rule.

  • Reply 16 of 42
    bobschlobbobschlob Posts: 1,074member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tomhayes View Post

     

    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?

     

    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.

     

    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)


    Wow. No accounting for lack of braincells here.

    Hey genius, It has "played out" legally. That's what the article says. Right at the top. Did you read it?

    Frankly, I don't see how you can be too mad if Apple gave you a brand new current model MacBook Pro after 2 years. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

    These asswipes sued because they felt Apple "lied to them". That's what the lawsuit was about. Not whether their Laptop was defective or not. Judge said Apple didn't "lie" to them; and the case was thrown out.

    There you go, now you know what it was about, and you don't have to not-read the article again.

  • Reply 17 of 42
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    tomhayes wrote: »
    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?
    That isn't even remotely what has been implied here. In this case you can't have a lawsuit against Apple if Apple took responsibility for their product and replaced the laptop under warranty.
    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.
    Why get mad? Seriously I'm assuming you aren't in diapers anymore. The fact is sometimes you end up being the unlucky individual that has an early failure. That failure seldom indicates a quality issue, you would need significant failures to show an issue.
    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)

    So have many of us experienced such a long life. The problem is all things man made fail over time, it isn't something to get upset over if the manufacture takes care of products under warranty.
  • Reply 18 of 42
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rob53 View Post

     Am I upset, yes. What can I do now? Probably nothing. 

    Leave the platform if you’re that upset. Why would you not? I won’t ever buy Firestone tires again because of something that happened over thirty years ago. You could give me a set of Firestone tires and I would hand them back to you.

    Do the right thing and buy a Dell with Windows 8.1. Bid Apple farewell. 


    Aw, c'mon...wouldn't you feel just a teeny bit bad if you talked him into it???

     

    (...anyway, what the hell am I supposed to do with these tires now???)

  • Reply 19 of 42
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,036member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tomhayes View Post

     

    So the time limit of expecting a working machine is 18 months?

     

    I'm not sure how this plays out legally, but if my MacBook died after 2 years I'd be mad too.

     

    (For the record my Macs have lasted much longer than 2 years - some going 6 years.)


     

    If Apple sold laptops that died in less than 2 years, Apple would be mad too. Not too many company would survive selling products that lasted less than the warranty period they came with. There's a reason why extended warranties have a very high profit margin for companies that offer them. It's because their products are designed and built to last longer than the longest extended warranty period they offer. Otherwise they would be a fool to offer them. 

     

    But bad batches do show up from time to time. The iMac G5 with the bad caps on the logic board comes to mind. But only a lawyer specializing in class action suits would come up with a claim that Apple would purposely and knowingly sell a defective poduct, that they knew wouldn't last longer that the free warranty period it came with. And Apple would have to know about the defect before they sold the product, in order to prove fraud. 

  • Reply 20 of 42
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BobSchlob View Post

     

    These asswipes sued because they felt Apple "lied to them". That's what the lawsuit was about. Not whether their Laptop was defective or not. Judge said Apple didn't "lie" to them; and the case was thrown out.

     


     

    It's even simpler than that.

     

    This case was started by lawyers who believed they could embarrass Apple into a settlement (note the inflammatory language in the submission, and the poor attempt to shoehorn in the treatment of the workers in Foxconn plants), which would have netted them millions and a free laptop for the plaintiffs they hooked by reading their complaints in Apple forums.

     

    The whole thing was shady beyond belief.

     

    What folk don't understand is that these shady ambulance chasers are making it very difficult for genuine cases to be brought in and treated fairly. 

     

    I think there needs to be a change of rule to discourage this sort of thing: If lawyer invented the case and then went out to find 'victims' then the lawyers should be liable for all legal costs incurred during the case if it is thrown out or they lose.

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