Apple Hit With Second Lawsuit Over Hazardous Apple Watch Screen Defect

A Disgruntled Apple Watch user has launched a lawsuit in the direction of Apple, alleging the firm “ignored” a problem that causes the wearable’s battery to swell and crack the screen.

In the proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for New Jersey this week, Gina Priano-Keyser claims her nine-month-old Apple Watch 3 suffered this glitch, which caused a “long deep, jagged crack” to form on her smartwatches’ screen.

The lawsuit, which cites over a dozen similar experiences described by users on the Apple Support Communities, alleges that all Apple Watch models are affected by the defect, including the newest Apple Watch 4, “through no fault of the wearer, oftentimes only days or weeks after purchase.”

Priano-Keyser adding that the issue poses “a significant safety hazard to consumers”, a “number” of which have suffered “cuts and burns” as a result of the scratched, shattered, or detached screens.

While – surprise, surprise – Apple has yet to return our request for comment, the company acknowledged the borkage back in 2017 and, as a result, extended the warranty on the first-gen Apple Watch to three years. In 2018, the Apple Watch 2 was given the same treatment.

However, Priano-Keyser says that Apple either knew or should have known that the Apple Watch models were defective before selling them. She also claims that Apple is refusing to repair affected Apple Watch models under warranty, alleging that the firm instead quoted her an out-of-warranty fee of $229 when she took her borked smartwatch in to be fixed.

“Upon information and belief, the Defect is caused by ageing or otherwise faulty li-on batteries, or by defective internal components of the Watches that regulate temperature, electrical currents, charging, and other mechanisms that could affect the Watches’ li-on batteries,” the complaint states.

This isn’t the first lawsuit Apple has faced over the swollen battery borkage. Back in June 2018, another miffed Apple Watch user, Kenneth Sciacca, alleged that Apple is violating both state and federal law by making a conscious effort to conceal material facts about the screen defect during sale.

“The Watches all contain the same defect and/or flaw, which causes the screens on the Watches to crack, shatter, or detach from the body of the Watch (the “Defect”), through no fault of the wearer, oftentimes only days or weeks after purchase,” the lawsuit read.

“Apple knew that the Watches were defective at or before the time it began selling them to the public. Furthermore, consumers complained to Apple about the Defect almost immediately after Apple released the Series 0, Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Watches.”―The Inquirer