Apple has agreed to a $20 million settlement in a category motion lawsuit over battery swelling in early Apple Watch fashions. Should you skilled the difficulty and owned an Apple Watch Sequence 0, 1, 2, or 3, chances are you’ll be eligible for a small payout.
The lawsuit, Smith et al. v. Apple Inc, was filed in the US District Courtroom for the Northern District of California. In each the settlement settlement and declare web site, Apple explicitly denies that its smartwatches ever had battery swelling points and “denies all allegations of wrongdoing” and legal responsibility. As a substitute, it says that Apple is selecting to settle to “keep away from additional prices of litigation.”
In an announcement despatched to The Verge, Apple spokesperson Aushawna Collins says the corporate “strongly disagree[s] with the claims made in opposition to these early era Apple Watch fashions.”
To be eligible for a payout, you need to have owned an eligible watch mannequin and have reported any potential battery swelling points to Apple between April twenty fourth, 2015 and February sixth, 2024. Anybody who matches these standards has till April tenth to substantiate or replace their fee data to obtain a payout. Based on the settlement’s FAQ website, the fee is estimated to be roughly $20 to $50 per lined watch. Accepting a fee means you additionally surrender any future motion concerning battery points on these explicit watches. Those that don’t want to be a part of the settlement have till February twenty fourth, 2025 to exclude themselves or object to the settlement.
Replace, January thirty first: Added remark from Apple.
