After seven months of investigation, Fazio | Micheletti LLP and its co-counsel, The Kralowec Law Group and the Law Offices of Earl L. Bohachek, filed Gallion v. Apple, Inc., in April 2010 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of our client, Charlene Gallion, who proposes to represent all purchasers of the iPhone and iPod touch throughout the United States.  

Since then, several other actions have been filed in federal and state courts and the U.S. District Court has appointed Fazio | Micheletti LLP and Chimicles & Tikellis LLP of Pennsylvania as interim co-lead class counsel. 

In re Apple is a class action in which the plaintiffs allege that Apple has a policy of using the external “Liquid Submersion Indicators” (or “LSIs”) — which are located in the headphone jack and/or the dock-connector of the iPhone and iPod touch — as the sole basis for voiding warranty coverage on those devices.  

The lawsuit has been brought to put an end to that practice, and to obtain reimbursement for those who have been forced to pay for the repair or replacement of their iPhone or iPod touch, even though the device was still under warranty and even though Apple did not determine whether the device was actually damaged by exposure to liquid. 

The litigation does not challenge Apple’s right to use these Liquid Submersion Indicators as an indication that an iPhone or iPod may have been damaged as a result of being submersed or immersed in liquid.   Rather, the plaintiffs have alleged that, until fairly recently, Apple corporate policy dictated that if Apple personnel are presented with an iPhone or iPod for repair, they are to check the external Liquid Submersion Indicators, and, if they have turned red or pink, the customer is to be informed that the device has been damaged by exposure to liquid and that their warranty — including an extended “AppleCare” warranty for which the customer has paid extra — is void.

This is a problem for at least two reasons.  

First, the external Liquid Submersion Indicators can be triggered even when the device has not been damaged by exposure to liquid, and there are reports that the sensors can be triggered by everything from humid weather to a sweaty palm.  Yet, according to a large number of complaints that have been reported, Apple personnel simply ignore protests from customers who insist that their devices have never been submersed in liquid.  As a result, these customers must bear the cost of repairing whatever is wrong with their iPhone or iPod or paying to replace it — even if the problem has nothing to do with exposure to, much less damage by, liquid.

Second, the iPhone and the iPod touch contain internal Liquid Submersion Indicators (in addition to the external LSIs that Apple personnel use as the basis for voiding warranty coverage), but it appears that Apple personnel very rarely even check the internal sensors or conduct any other internal inspection of the device for signs of actual damage (such as corrosion) from exposure to liquid. 

The bottom line is this:  The iPhone and the iPod touch are wonderfully innovative products, but Apple has a legal obligation to provide warranty coverage during the warranty period unless Apple establishes that the customer has damaged those devices.  The existence of actual damage should be ascertained by an inspection of the internal components of the device — not simply by looking for an external Liquid Submersion Indicator that has turned red or pink, particularly when Apple knows how unreliable LSIs are.  

If you have attempted to have your iPhone or iPod repaired under warranty, but have been refused a cost-free repair or replacement because an external LSI has falsely indicated that the device was exposed to liquid, we would like to hear from you.  Let us know what happened by clicking here and filling out our contact form.