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Microsoft Wins Arbitration in Surface RT Tablet Class Action Lawsuit
By Sarah Pierce
Microsoft customers who allege they were misled into purchasing the company’s Surface RT tablet based on false ads about its actual storage capacity will have to have their claims heard in arbitration, according to a ruling issued Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real granted Microsoft’s bid to arbitrate a proposed class action lawsuit, saying the lead plaintiff didn’t object to the motion.
Andrew Sokolowski sued Microsoft in November alleging that Microsoft knows its Surface RT tablet provide only 25% to 50% of the advertised storage, but conceals and fails to disclose this information in its advertising, marketing or promotional materials.
“Microsoft continues to mislead consumers by representing that its Surface RT tablets are equipped with either 32 GB or 64 GB of storage space while concealing, omitting or failing to disclose that approximately 16 GB of that space is not available storage space that the purchaser can access and use to store his or her own files,” Sokolowski said in the Surface RT class action lawsuit.
Microsoft motioned to arbitrate the proposed class action lawsuit, arguing that Sokolowski agreed upon an enforceable arbitration agreement when he purchased the tablet.
Sokolowski did not oppose the motion, thereby consenting to the arbitration, Judge Real said.
“The court finds that plaintiff agreed to arbitrate all disputes relating to the terms and conditions of the agreement, including disputes as to the scope of the arbitration agreement and the class action waiver, and that such agreement is enforceable,” the judge wrote. “Moreover, the court is satisfied that the class action waiver is not void on its face, that the arbitration clause was agreed to by both parties, and that enforcement of the agreement may be compelled.”
The Microsoft Surface Tablet RT Class Action Lawsuit case is Andrew Sokolowski v. Microsoft Corp. et al., Case No. 12-CV-10641, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Updated March 1st, 2013
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