A new class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple because of a battery swelling defect that can cause operational failures and injuries from broken screens.
Shawn Miller sent an Apple Watch with a detached display.
The watch can pop up in situations where the battery swells, because Apple has manufactured it in a way that allows the battery to contact the watch screen.
When the display is damaged by the battery, the razor-sharp edges can lead to injury.
The complaint alleges that Apple allocated insufficient room inside the Apple Watch for it to be able to expand without affecting the screen face and that Apple failed to include a protective guard to keep it from contacting the screen face.
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The swelling creates upward pressure on the Apple Watch face, which can cause it to break or detach. It exposes razor-sharp edges and leads to operational failure and/or injuries from accidentally bodily contact with a broken screen.
The lawsuit describes a situation where a man named Chris Smith had an Apple Watch Series 3 that he used for three years and the screen became detached due to the battery swelling. He reached down from the steering wheel of the golf cart to place it in motion, but the screen detached and sliced his forearm. There are pictures of a deep cut on Smith's arm and other incidents where an Apple Watch display detached from the body but did not result in injury.
The lawsuit covers all Apple Watches of every size and model, and excludes the Apple Watch Series 7. The defect poses a material and unreasonable safety hazard to consumers, and has caused many purchasers to suffer from lacerations, cuts, and other injuries, according to the suit.
The lawsuit suggests that Apple knew about the defects in its Apple Watches before it began selling them, and that the company failed to inform the wearer of the defects.
Apple failed to tell the public that the Watches had a defect that would cause them to fail and cause injury to the wearer. This makes the Watches unmerchantable and unsuitable for the uses Apple advertised.
The costs for replacing Apple Watches are one of the damages that the people in the case are seeking. Attorneys fees and costs should be paid by Apple, as well as the defective nature of the watch, according to the suit.
This is not the first time that Apple has faced a lawsuit over swollen Apple Watches. The lawsuit that was filed today is similar to the one that was filed back in 2019: it accuses Apple of fraudulent business practices and breach of warranty, and uses many of the same arguments.
The judge in the case ruled that the Apple Watch defect was not caused by faulty batteries or internal components. The judge allowed the lawsuit to go forward despite the fact that the lawsuit was dismissed.
