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Apple Watch owners are bringing a class action lawsuit against Apple, Inc. for what they claim is fraud and breach of warranty, after several of their devices broke and exposed dangerous sharp screen edges caused by defective batteries. The complaint was filed in federal court in California on behalf of five individuals whose watches came apart after batteries in their watches swelled up and broke the device, as well as any other Apple Watch owners who come forward in similar situations. Attorneys at Cunningham Bounds and Morgan & Morgan are seeking more Apple watch owners who have experienced this defect to join the case. “People spend hundreds of dollars on Apple Watches, and they trust that Apple has designed and manufactured it to ensure its safety and durability,” one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, Lucy Tufts of Cunningham Bounds law firm, said in a press release. “Apple needs to be held accountable for this failure to protect their customers.”The plaintiffs allege that Apple knew about the defect and failed to prevent it from happening, or protect users from being injured by detached or shattered watch screens: “The swelling creates considerable upward pressure on the Watch face, causing detachment, shattering, and/or cracking of the screen through no fault of the wearer, exposing its razor-sharp edges and leading to operational failure of the Watch and/or personal injuries resulting from unintended bodily contact with the detached, shattered, or cracked screen.”Apple Watch First Generation, Series 1 through Series 6, and Series SE all have the same defect, the complaint claims. In one of the plaintiff’s cases, the glass of the watch came out of its housing and exposed a sharp edge, the complaint alleges, and sliced his wrist open. Chris Smith, a man in Alabama who received a Series 3 Watch for Christmas in 2017, claims to have been injured by the device’s broken screen while driving a golf cart almost three years later in 2020. When he reached down to put the cart into drive, according to the complaint, “a detached screen on his Apple Watch severely sliced the underside of Plaintiff’s forearm, cutting a vein, and resulting in substantial personal injury. The watch was no longer operational.” The complaint includes a photo of the gash, which looks very deep. Lithium polymer batteries are prone to puffing up, not only in Apple Watches. According to iFixit, swollen batteries can cause serious harm, catch fire, or explode. Swollen batteries may emit a sweet mechanical smell, or cause the device to feel squishy or look distended. This isn’t the first time Apple’s been sued over the Apple Watch in a class action: in 2019, a woman in New Jersey U.S. district court sued Apple for the same defect, but a judge ruled that it wasn’t caused by bad batteries or internal components, and the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her case. Reddit’s r/AppleWatch is full of years’ worth of photos from people whose popped screens after batteries swelled. Apple’s own discussions forum is full of people complaining about swollen batteries, frequently in the last year and as recently as two weeks ago. “So why have Apple shown such disregard for the Apple Watch product and it’s early adopter customers?” wrote one user whose battery in their own watch, and also their wife’s watch, both popped the screens. “And why is Apple content to promote this ‘throw away’ culture around it’s Watch products?” Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
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