Gibson Dunn Signs On for Apple as Plaintiffs Push to Preserve Replaced iPhone Batteries
A team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has joined the sprawling suits as plaintiffs seek to force the company to hold onto the batteries it's replacing in a wide-scale effort to address diminished performance in older iPhones.
January 16, 2018 at 03:27 PM
3 minute read
Apple Inc. has brought on a team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to help fend off dozens of lawsuits filed across the country claiming the company deliberately slowed the performance of certain older iPhone models to induce consumers to buy new ones.
The Gibson team signed on with Apple as plaintiffs in one of the cases asked a federal judge in San Jose to force the company to hold onto the batteries it's replacing as part of a wide-scale effort to address diminished performance in older devices.
Lawyers at Fazio | Micheletti in San Ramon and DiCello Levitt & Casey in Chicago have asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins of the Northern District of California to bar Apple from destroying or altering any battery, iPhone, or diagnostic data it obtains in connection with a program to replace defective lithium-ion batteries at a discount.
The plaintiffs lawyers point out that Apple “hastily” announced its program to replace the batteries in affected iPhones for $29—$50 less than its typical $79 fee—a week after they filed suit.
“Class members are handing over evidence from their iPhones to Apple, without any assurance that Apple will not dispose of the replaced batteries or selectively use and/or dispose of the information gathered as a means of trying to avoid liability,” the lawyers wrote.
Although Gibson lawyers have yet to appear in the suit, the plaintiffs point out in court papers that they've been corresponding with the firm's lawyers on the matter. Gibson previously has taken on high-profile matters for the Cupertino-based tech heavyweight. A team at Gibson led by partner Theodore Boutrous Jr. previously represented the company in its legal showdown with the Justice Department in a case where the FBI was seeking to compel the company to help unlock an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the perpetrators in the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino.
Boutrous and Apple representatives didn't immediately respond to messages Tuesday.
Reached by email Tuesday, Adam Levitt of DiCello Levitt said Apple is obligated to preserve evidence related to pending litigation, and that the company's current policy is to recycle all replaced iPhone batters. Levitt said any failure by Apple to hold onto the batteries at issue in the litigation “would raise serious spoliation concerns.”
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