T-Mobile Sidekick Class Action Settlement

If you had a T-Mobile Sidekick and experienced data service interruption beginning October 2, 2009, you may be entitled to one of several benefits, including a $35 T-Mobile gift card, a $17.50 check payment, or up to 12 free downloadable items from a class action lawsuit settlement.

The proposed Sidekick settlement will resolve a class action lawsuit filed against Danger, Microsoft (Danger’s parent company) and T-Mobile alleging the companies were responsible for lost data and service disruption that occurred beginning October 2, 2009. The data service disruption — which affected web browsing, instant messaging, email, and some applications — was a result of the companies’ failure to adequately provide service and/or maintain the personal data of Sidekick users, says the class action lawsuit. Sidekick users also lost access to data such as contacts, calendar, notes, to-do lists and photos.

Danger, Microsoft and T-Mobile acknowledged there was an interruption in data services during this period, but say it lasted only a few days, most users could access their stored data during the interruption, and very few users lost data. The defendants claim they gave all Sidekick data plan subscribers a free month of data service, gave the most inconvenienced subscribers $50 or $25 gift cards or credits, and gave the few subscribers who permanently lost a significant amount of data $100 gift cards and $100 credits toward a new handset shortly after the outage. The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, however, claim this was not enough.

You’re considered a class member of the Sidekick data loss settlement if your Sidekick phone experienced an interruption of certain data services beginning October 2, 2009.

The Sidekick class action settlement (www.SidekickSettlement.com) provides several benefits to class members:

(1) You will be able to download, for free, up to 12 items for your Sidekick from the Download Catalog. These items will include an alarm clock, a Pac-Man game, three animated screen savers selected by Defendants, two themes selected by Defendants, four ringtones selected by Defendants, and one background selected by Defendants. These 12 free Sidekick downloads will be available during Customer Appreciation Week, February 14-20, 2011. Instructions on how you can download these free items (worth a retail value of approximately $34.88) will be sent via email.

(2) Some class members who lost data permanently, or temporarily lost access to data with fewer than 100 contacts, may submit a claim form for a $35 T-Mobile gift card or a $17.50 payment by check.

The Sidekick service interruption class action settlement will also require Danger to describe in writing its current Sidekick data backup systems and procedures to be reviewed for reasonableness by a Class Counsel technical expert. Class Counsel will also question a danger representative under oath about its current backup systems and procedures, the number of subscribers the service interruption affected, and the data restoration measures available to them.

To receive your $35 T-Mobile gift card or a check for $17.50, you must submit a valid claim form postmarked no later than April 18, 2011.

You can find detailed information about how to file a valid claim form to receive benefits from the T-Mobile Sidekick Class Action Lawsuit Settlement in our Open Lawsuit Settlements section.