The law firm Bursor and Fisher filed a class action lawsuit against Apple this week over unusually common screen cracks on M1 MacBooks, reports 9to5Mac. The firm is accusing Apple of knowingly selling laptops with fragile displays that tend to crack under normal use in some cases and then refusing to repair them without charge. Bursor and Fisher is now seeking compensation for all expenses associated with repairs.
While Apple’s latest 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks based on the M1 system-on-chip received great reviews and made many owners happy on launch, there is also a large number of customers who have experienced unexpected screen cracks and were forced to pay $600 ~ $850 to Apple for repairs. Apple insists that screen cracks were not its fault, but were caused by mishandling or by a small item or particle becoming lodged between the keyboard and screen.
Last week, class action law firm Migliaccio & Rathod LLP said it had begun looking for owners of Apple’s latest MacBooks with cracked LCDs to make “potential legal claims against” the company. Apparently, lawyers from Bursor & Fisher were quicker, so they filed the case 5:21-cv-07109, Almeida v. Apple this week.
“The M1 MacBook is defective, as the screens are extraordinarily fragile, cracking, blacking out, or showing magenta, purple and blue lines and squares, or otherwise ceasing to function altogether,” the lawsuit reads.
“Thousands of users from across the globe have reported this issue directly to Apple and on Apple sponsored forums,” the lawsuit continues. “Nonetheless, consumers who have attempted to secure replacements or repairs have been rebuffed by Apple, often forced to pay out of pocket upwards of between $600 and $850 for repairs themselves or to secure replacements without Apple’s assistance. Others who have secured repairs or replacements from Apple have quickly experienced the problem reappearing on the repaired or replaced laptop.”
Truth to be told, Apple issued a notice on August 27 asking owners of MacBooks not to use any camera covers, palm rest covers, or keyboard covers with their laptops because “the clearance between the display (screen) and the top case is engineered to tight tolerances [which is why] leaving any material on your display, keyboard, or palm rest might interfere with the display when it’s closed and cause damage to your display.”
The case’s plaintiff believes that this notice is essentially Apple’s recognition of the issue even though the warning was not issued to any specific Mac laptop.
That plaintiff wants Apple to compensate the cost of repairs for himself and other people with similar problems as well as award “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.” But screen repairs are very costly, just like lawyers in the U.S. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether Apple will admit the issue and what the plaintiff and people similarly situated will get from the “Think different” company.
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