Apple and two of its executives, CEO Tim Cook and chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri, accused investors of filing a “perplexing novel of a lawsuit” and asked a California federal judge to end allegations that the tech giant ultimately hurt its own sales with an alleged scheme to sell more iPhones by slowing down its old ones with a software update, reports Law360 (a subscription is required to read the whole article).
The complaint was filed by lead plaintiff Terrence Zehrer in the Northern District Court of California in August. Independent investigations of Apple in 2017 revealed the company deliberately caused slowdowns in older iPhone models through iOS updates. In late 2017, Apple admitted to intentionally slowing the performance after facing severe consumer outrage, leading to the “Batterygate” brourhaha.
Following a lengthy series of class action litigation, Apple announced in a public release that sales of newer model iPhones were down due to the battery replacement program. After Apple exposed the drop in iPhone sales, Apple’s stock followed with shares dropping 10%, which wiped out nearly $74 billion in market capitalization in one day.
The complaint claims that Apple’s scheme damaged the company and exposed Apple to significant liability and alleges the company engaged in breaches of fiduciary duties, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment.
