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P.A. woman leading lawsuit against Apple Inc. over their “touch disease” issue

Oct 5, 2016 | 5:01 PM

A Prince Albert woman is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Apple Inc. over what’s commonly called “touch disease.”

The Canada-wide lawsuit, filed in the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench by Merchant Law Group LLC on Sept. 13, alleged Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones contain a defect which renders their touchscreens unresponsive and unusable.

The class-action also claims Apple has “long been aware of the defect” but refused to fix the defective products.

P.A. resident Trina Wiegers, the lead plaintiff, said the issue began shortly after her one-year warranty expired.

“It’s just unresponsive,” Wiegers said, noting her phone has always been treated well and has never been removed from its protective case. “Over time it’s gotten worse and worse and worse.”

“Touch disease” manifests as an unresponsive touchscreen, often preceded by a flickering grey bar at the top of the screen.

Wiegers said she’s missed several important calls and messages as a result, often seeing the incoming calls displayed on the screen with no way to answer them.

She was assigned an Apple senior advisor to help with her case after a lengthy complaint process.

Eventually the representative allegedly gave her an ultimatum – pay for the repair personally, or buy a new phone. In written transcripts provided to paNOW, the advisor assigned to Wiegers’ case directed her to the company’s feedback page and then signed off from their chat with a smiley face.

“I was really upset,” she said.

Her taste for Apple products has now soured. “I’m not going to say I’d never buy Apple again, but I really wish they’d own up to their problem here,” she said. “The phone has a manufacturing defect, they need to take responsibility for that.

Her online hunt for a solution soon revealed an American class-action suit filed in Apple’s home state of California in Aug., alleging Apple had “longstanding knowledge” of the defects and yet refused to repair the phones without charge.

When Wiegers discovered the Canadian proposed class-action lawsuit organized by the Merchant Law Group, she immediately signed up as a plaintiff.

“Sometimes companies think that ignoring the problem will make the problem go away,” Regina lawyer Tony Merchant said. “One of the great benefits of class-actions is that companies can’t trick consumers into thinking they have a one-off individual problem.

“They ought to be making good to people but they then face the embarrassment of a defective product,” he said.

According to Merchant, roughly 800 Canadians have already added their names to the class-action suit.

“That demonstrates how widespread the problem is,” he said, adding any flaw which disables basic functionality is “really serious, particularly for a product of this cost and widespread use.”

In addition to the Canada-wide lawsuit, Merchant Law Group is filing a separate class-action on the same subject specifically for iPhone users in Quebec.

Merchant said his group is Canada’s most active class-action litigators.

A request for comment from Apple was not returned.

 

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca