Apple iPhone/iPad Tracking Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward

By Sarah Mirando | May 8, 2012

Category: Apple Class Action Lawsuit and Settlement News

By Matt O’Donnell

A federal judge has ruled that Apple must face a class action lawsuit accusing it of secretly tracking iPhone and iPad users without their permission.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled last week that the discovery phase of the Apple tracking class action lawsuit will proceed, minus some of the claims, which she dismissed. Apple has until May 17 to turn over documents to the Plaintiffs’ lawyers. Koh threatened Apple with sanctions if she learns of any “game play” during the exchange of information before the trial, saying “I don’t want any obstruction here.”

The class action lawsuit was filed last year after researchers publicized that Apple was secretly recording and storing details of iPhone and iPad users’ every move, even when they indicated they did not want such information shared by switching off location services in the devices’ settings.

Apple tried unsuccessfully to dismiss the class action lawsuit, arguing that the Plaintiffs did not identify a “single, concrete injury inflicted on any one of the Plaintiffs here, much less one that is traceable to [Apple.]”

The Apple iPhone tracking class action lawsuit case is In Re: Apple, Inc. iPhone/iPad Application Consumer Privacy Litigation, Case No. 11-md-02250, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose.

UPDATE: Judge Koh dismissed the class action lawsuit and multidistrict litigation on Nov. 25, 2013, ruling that plaintiffs could not prove they relied on Apple’s alleged misrepresentations or were harmed by them.