Canadian iPhone owners looking for a payout from Apple’s class-action lawsuit settlement have until Sept. 2 to cash in.
The newly announced deadline comes a month after the B.C. Supreme Court approved a proposed settlement of up to $14.4 million for current or former iPhone 6 and 7 users in Canada.
Those who are eligible can submit a settlement claim as part of the class-action lawsuit. The amount received will depend on the number of class members who make claims, says lawyer K.S. Garcha, adding that payments will be between $17.50 and $150 per person.
Although similar lawsuits were filed in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, the current settlement agreement will apply to residents in all provinces except those in Quebec.
Mr. Garcha said he is expecting upward of nine million claims to be filed.
Anyone who owned or purchased an Apple iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7, or 7 Plus smartphone device with iOS 10.2.1 or later for iPhone 6 models or iOS 11.2 or later for iPhone 7 or 7 Plus before Dec. 21, 2017 could be eligible for payment.
Michael Peerless, a lawyer for the class action, said the settlement was “hard fought” after “lengthy and difficult negotiations” with the company, and said the amounts proposed to be paid out is “in the range that a consumer should hope for.”
It would’ve taken “multiple more years” to get paid out had the case gone to trial, he said, and there would be no guarantee of success or a bigger payout had they gone that route.
“The damages in a case like this are difficult to quantify,” Mr. Peerless said. “There’s no real judicial guidance for something like this. We’re never going to have a Supreme Court of Canada trilogy about what damages are for a slowed down smartphone. But what we were able to do is to negotiate the maximum amount achievable for a very large number of class members in this case.”
Although Apple has agreed to settle, the tech giant maintains it is not an “admission of liability.”
Mr. Peerless said similar litigation in the United States provided a “valuable road map” during settlement negotiations. The California case settlement range was between $310 million and $500 million.
