Consumer rights champion Justin Gutmann’s unprecedented lawsuit against Apple is moving forward. The hearing has now been set by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to commence from Tuesday 2 May 2023 until Thursday 4 May 2023 to determine whether the case should be certified as a collective action and proceed to a full trial.

 

Following a case management conference which took place on 22 November 2022, the CAT has confirmed that the CPO Hearing will take place to consider:

  •  If Mr Gutmann is suitable to act on behalf of the proposed class and if he should be certified to bring the claim. 
  •  If the claim itself is eligible to be brought as a collective action and should proceed to a full trial. 

If Mr Gutmann is successful, around 25 million UK customers who bought an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X models would be entitled to approximately £768 million collectively in compensation for each model owned. As an opt-out claim, members of the class will not need to actively join the case to seek damages. Instead, they will be part of the claim unless they decide to opt out.

Members of the proposed class have until 20th January 2023 to object to Mr Gutmann as a class representative or object to the claim itself. Anyone with an interest in the claim going ahead can make oral and/or written submissions to the Tribunal.

Justin Gutmann says: “I am pleased to announce that the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) has listed a hearing for my application for a Collective Proceedings Order (CPO) for 2nd - 4th May 2023. This is the first important stage in the case affecting millions of iPhone users in the UK who have had poor phone performance as a result of Apple’s abusive conduct. I will now be working with my legal team to prepare for the hearing to ensure our claim is certified so that we can move this claim forward.”

The CPO Hearing is in respect of a claim launched on 17 June 2022 by Justin Gutmann, formerly of Citizens Advice, on behalf of millions of iPhone users who have allegedly suffered loss due to being misled by iOS updates - claiming they would improve their iPhone’s performance when in fact it reduced it by up to 58% in some cases.

Apple sold iPhones with batteries that were unable to cope with new iOS processing demands, which caused sudden shutdowns. Rather than undertaking a product recall and repair process to replace the batteries, Apple instead encouraged users to install iOS updates which had a power management tool concealed within them.

Affected iPhone users can receive more information on the legal proceedings by visiting The iPhone Claim - The iPhone Throttling Claim. The hearing can be attended or viewed via livestream at https://www.catribunal.org.uk.