Apple and iTunes Hit with Goofy Class Action Lawsuit

If there's a more litigious country than the United States, I've yet to hear about it.  I'm all for justice and large companies being held to account, but the US always seems to be awash in goofy lawsuits that ask for big damages for the tiniest slight.

The result is higher insurance premiums for everyone.  Want to know why a stepladder costs as much as it does?  The costs of insurance against lawsuits for misuse or improper use of the ladder is built in to the price.

Apple is no stranger to being sued (or suing, if we're to be fair).  As the biggest company in the world, they're the biggest target in the world.

Take the case of Robert Hersowitz of New York.  He's launched a class action suit against Apple and iTunes because he saw he was charged twice for downloading Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want from Me."  

Not only was he allegedly bilked out of an extra $1.29, his efforts at seeking redress were met (he says) with a rude automated reply which decline his request for a refund.  That was enough for him to launch a class action suit against Apple.  He's currently seeking other similarly disgruntled iTunes customers to join him.

Seriously?  

"Yes, but it's the principle of the matter," I can hear you say, "Apple needs to be held account for their billing practices and their customer service.  If it happened to Robert, who knows how many people it's happened to?  As the world's largest retailer of music--and the holder credit card information for tens of millions of users--what if iTunes really is ripping off the public?"

Good point.  But to gum up the courts over a $1.29 and a perceived slight from a mail server?  How much is this going to cost the legal system?  And what's it going to contribute to the liability insurance costs of businesses in general?

Then again, I'm hardly a lawyer and I have no clue about American class action litigation law.  If you do, you might want to take a look at the text of the lawsuit here.

Comments

[David Ma]

No, the point of class action lawsuits isn't principle at all. It's to address this very situation. Before class actions, large corporations could get away with wrongful actions that caused individual consumers relatively minor damages, because they knew that it would never be worthwhile to pursue a claim on an individual basis. However, the scale of the wrongdoing could be across thousands or millions of consumers, resulting in huge (albeit wrongful) profits to the corporation. The objective of having class actions was to cure this rather unjust result - i.e. consolidate individual claims that would not otherwise be viable individually, where, collectively, they most certainly would be.