Judge Edward Davila, a California federal judge, has “trimmed” a proposed class action suit against Apple claiming it hid display defects on 15-inch McBook Pros, but left intact fraudulent omission claims after determining that the tech giant didn’t properly disclose info after it discovered the issue, reports Law360 (a subscription is required to read the entire article).
He “determined that the consumers’ allegations of Apple conducting intensive pre-release testing, which the consumers say was conducted by a team of ‘reliability engineers”’ who carried out stress tests and other procedures that would have alerted Apple to defects behind the display failures, sufficiently demonstrate that Apple was aware of the alleged defect,” he said.””The court finds that the allegations of pre-release testing in combination with the allegations of substantial customer complaints are sufficient to show that Apple had exclusive knowledge of the alleged defect,” the judge wrote in his opinion.
In 2016, Apple introduced its updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. The company described these laptops as “revolutionary” and “groundbreaking,” with “breakthrough performance.” The laptops’ main selling point was their display. Apple described it as its “brightest and most colorful Retina display yet.”
However, the aforementioned lawsuit (and a second one) claimed that, in an effort to make the laptops as slim as possible, used thin flexible ribbon cables to connect the display screen to the display controller board. The cables wrap around the display controller board and are secured by a pair of spring-loaded covers.
According to the lawsuits, at first these cables function correctly. But their length and placement cause them to rub against the control board each time the laptop is opened or closed, causing the cables to wear and tear over time.
