iPod nano "scratch" lawsuit: lead plaintiff never wanted to be involved
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 24th 2006 10:09AM
posted May 24th 2006 10:09AM
In an open letter to the Mac community, Jason Tomczak, the so-called lead-plaintiff in the iPod nano "Scratch" class-action lawsuit, says he never wanted anything to do with the case. The fact that he was named lead-plantiff was a mistake according to Jason, as he never sought out, nor hired the firms of David P. Meyer & Associates or Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro to represent him. Sure, he did respond to their request for information after Jason complained about scratches on his personal blog and within other Mac-related forums. However, Jason claims that the lawyers prepared the paperwork and filed the iPod Nano Class Action suit in California using Jason's name as Lead Plaintiff "without his knowledge or consent," even after Jason requested not to be involved, and without Jason signing an attorney-client agreement. On top of this, the poor kid's name has become synonymous with the class action resulting in threats, hate mail, and other forms of harassment from the more fanatical-types amongst the Mac zealotry. Jason is currently suing the two firms -- a move being met by the type of aggressive and staunch defense you'd expect from a couple of powerful and scheming law firms. If true, well, you just gotta feel sorry for the guy. So let's cut him some slack as this thing unfolds, aight?[Via TechDirt]
Sending him hate mail and threats? Jesus. What a bunch of geeks.
This is the real world, not grand theft auto.
Poor boy, he's become the target of all the apple fanboys around the world
Maybe i'm assuming to much, but i'm guessing the majority of the hate mail and harassment came from Americans.
Fanboys are one thing, but this kind of brainwashing is synonymous with fanatical religious types. Your consumerism has consumed you America...
@#3 (Ad)
Because 0.0001 % of the population are cranks and sent this kid some hate-mail, you automatically blame this action on religious people and slam Americans in general?
Now THAT is bigoted and narrow-minded.
This is one more person educated on his name and responsiblity to bringing down the iPod revolution. Weii will destroy him!
#3, what are you talking about?
"Dont you dare file suit against the almighty MAC. They are infallible, omnipotent, and all seeing. They know not the meaning of flaws. You incur the wrath of the Steves!!"
What kind of ill-minded hate mail would they be sending him anyways?
lol, maybe its those damn "Outgun the Governator and win a free iPod!" messages x30,000,000,000
What type of person cares enough about a Mega Corporation to send threats and hate mail if someone sues them? What's next, are Apple fanboys going to launch a crusade to take the Pacific Northwest in the name of Jobs? Seriously if you have time to write hate mail if someone sues your favorite company you need to sit down and evaluate your priorities.
Gawd, what's it with you people? Jason's letter is about how greedy immoral lawyers stole his name without permission so they can live in their $15 million houses, and are basically torturing him with legal maneuvering, and people get fixed on some rude fanboys?
I think some people are obviously more fixated on ridiculing Apple than being concerned about the idea that lawyers can ruin your life and apparently get away with it, for simply having exposed them to be the greedy bastards that they are and undermining their chance to win a purely greed-driven lawsuit.
Some days when I bored, or I do something bad, I send hatemail to myself. These colors don't run, friends.
It's sad to see that he's been made the object of hate for what I can only describe as the psychotic minority of Apple fans. What's worse is that it apparently is not even of his own doing.
But even if it was there is still no excuse for it.
I like Apple products and the general experience around them but to idolize the company is just silly.
I didn't blame religious people. I just think that this is another clear example of consumerism taking over Americans lives. I'm not saying America is alone in this or that it affects a significant number of Americans, but it sure is growing. #7 Tmoney gets it
The most perverse part of this is that when it's finally settled, the lawyers are gonna walk away with MILLIONS in "fees" and the consumer that actually was "damaged or harmed" is going to get their nano repaired and probably a coupon for a couple iTunes downloads. And people are sending him hatemail? Hey folks, send that hatemail to your good for sh*t Senators and Congressmen and demand they put a stop to this extortion.
The attorneys started a class-action suit without a retainer agreement from their lead plaintiff? No way! I'm not buying it.
Wait. Even if he WAS suing voluntarily, how big of a loser does one have to be to threaten the guy? Do the Mac zealots (or zealots of any kind for that matter) not realize that Apple couldn't care less about them? You're just consumers of their products, nothing more. To have an emotional attachment to the point of threatening someone smacks of a mental disorder.
By the way, is there any recourse for those with scratch happy nanos? I'm extremely careful with my Nano and it still scratches if there's a slight breeze. Do new Nanos still have this problem? (I know about third party products to cover the ipod and prevent scratches)
sounds like somebody got a nice check from apple...
Apple fanboys need to realize that they care about Apple a lot more than Apple cares about them. Like it or not the fact is every publicly traded company, is in the business to make money. If they can inspire blind devotion to not just a product, but the company itself they stand to make a lot of money off of you. Why do you think Apple markets themselves the way they do? When you start to beleive that one company is inherently good in what they do and another is inherently evil, the marketing department has tricked you. All companies try to make as much money as they can, some by nefarious means; but no company is looking out for the best interest of consumers. Apple is no different, they put out products made as cheap as can be without tarnishing their brand. Then they charge the highest price the market will bear. Giving blind passes for companys is a dangerous thing for consumers.
Yah, damn those consumer protection attorneys. Those bastards. Saving lives, and money, and protecting the consumer interest.
What we need to do is stop litigating when quality is at issue, and/or lives are being harmed, yah, thats it.
Pahleeeeeze.
Not all attorneys are bad, but you only hear about the bad ones because people complain a lot louder than they praise. As you can see above.
"Some days when I bored, or I do something bad, I send hatemail to myself."
Hilarious!
Well after reading the article all I can say is.
You can use my name as the lead plantif
Take that Stevie-boy MS wanna-be.
You will never be like me.
p.s. your commercials suck.
Class Action Lawsuits are indeed often "extorsions." I agree with 12.
Les
Reply to #14.
Yes purchase anything but an iPod.
In reply to poster No. 8
Does the word McDonalds Hot Coffee ring any truer?
you people are surprised someone would send him hate mail? check out the reader comments at the end of every single engadget story and it's all name-calling and hostility.
no one can tolerate anyone with a different opinion.
gadgets are supposed to be *fun*, right?
What's funny, but not haha funny, is that for every mac "zealot", there's a few dozen Apple haters out there. For every individual piece of hate mail sent to this dude, there's 20 people who hope in their heart of hearts, that Apple dies a horrible death, mostly because the iPod is somehow an affront to humanity.
Silly people and their voluntary corporate slavehood. It's just stuff you know.
"Aight"?
The attempted use of street talk on a tech blog is the strongest possible indicator that the word or phrase in question has long since jumped the shark.
I like iPods & I have a scratched up Nano (I bought it the first week--before Apple had any cases in stock). Even as an Apple supporter, how can you send a guy hate mail about a product that really DOES scratch that easily? Class action lawsuits are ridiculous--but they're part of life in the US. Next time hopefully Apple makes a more durable product--or at least bundles a case to protect it.
Sucks to be Jason--stuck with a scratched-up product and a bunch of hooligans trying to ruin his life because of it.
to #19: Blow it out your ass, Billy Boy...
(PS. You made my day, though)
sound's like jason should take some legal action of his own against those lawyers.
#21: Some lawsuits are ridiculous and wrong. This is absolutely true. The one in discussion here is both, but for entirely different reasons - namely the use of someone's name without their consent. But, that aside, your example is neither. Allow me to recap.
79 year old Stella Liebeck suffered third degree burns on her groin and inner thighs while trying to add sugar to her coffee at a McDonalds drive through. Third degree burns are the most serious kind of burn. McDonalds knew it had a problem. There were at least 700 previous cases of scalding coffee incidents at McDonalds before Liebeck's case. McDonalds had settled many claim before but refused Liebeck's request for $20,000 compensation, forcing the case into court. Lawyers found that McDonalds makes its coffee 30-50 degrees hotter than other restaurants, about 190 degrees. Doctors testified that it only takes 2-7 seconds to cause a third degree burn at 190 degrees. McDonalds knew its coffee was exceptionally hot but testified that they had never consulted with burn specialist. The Shriner Burn Institute had previously warned McDonalds not to serve coffee above 130 degrees. And so the jury came back with a decision- $160,000 for compensatory damages. But because McDonalds was guilty of "willful, reckless, malicious or wanton conduct" punitive damages were also applied. The jury set the award at $2.7 million. The judge then reduced the fine to less than half a million. Ms. Liebeck then settled with McDonalds for a sum reported to be much less than a half million dollars. McDonald's coffee is now sold at the same temperature as most other restaurants.
It will be a glorious day when someone agrees with me that maybe, just maybe, McDonald's actually did act irresponsbily and someone did more than just call them out on it, but actually did something to fix the problem. For just a moment, look past the sum of money she received (because all she wanted was her hospital bills covered anyway) and consider 190 degrees. One hundred ninety. 190!
C'mon, dude. That's crazy. About twenty degrees more and it would've BOILED!
Then again, I suppose most of these threads have indeed been about a giant corporation who doesn't care about their customers. Maybe that's what you responding to, #21, and not the lawsuit at all. Well, in that case, my apologies. Right on.
Hopefully, in the not to distant future two law firms will sue each other till the death for no reason at all. Who are these people that sue? I have never ever even met a single person that has brought suit against anyone, jeez... what the hell is it with these people. I scratched my nano, so I'm gonna sue. If you want to sue someone sue for nothing. We need to cap all lawsuits at 99 cents. However, we need to really start getting on the death penalty more, like this kid. He should have the death penalty handed to him if he loses and especially the lawyers, every lawfirm must realize if you lose a lawsuit you and your firm shall be hung or shot, and the jury gets to do it.
Ugh. Coffee HAS TO be brewed at 190 degrees F to extract the flavor from the bean. I used to work in the restaurant biz, and that is the standard temp at which coffee is brewed.
The world is a dangerous place. Take responsibility for your own actions. If McDonalds had spilled the coffee on her, the story might be a little different.
Can I sue anyone for wasting part of my life reading another apple law suit article. Come to think of it, I'm wasting even more time writing this post so I'll stop now and go sue myself. Ridiculous.
Because I'm pretty sure that this post is anonymous, I have a confession to make.
The other day my mommy came down to my basement room and moved my ipod!! Can you believe that? Well, let me tell you, she won't be doing that anymore! She's buried in the dumpster behind the MacDonalds. Hee Hee.
Gee, I hope my daddy knows that I like lots of sugar in my hot cocoa.
"Poor boy, he's become the target of all the apple fanboys around the world"
Thank goodness for Apple's low market share.
Jeff is right, coffee must be brewed at high temperatures to give it the taste that the customer expects. This woman openned a hot cup of coffee holding it between her legs as she drove to add sugar. She is an idiot. Sure McDonalds has the money and the payment didn't really affect them too much, other than bad publicity. But what has changed? McDonalds still brews their coffee at the same temps. All they have done is added a little warning on the side of the cup telling idiots everywhere that the coffee is HOT.
Wake up folks. McDonalds should not have to tell every Tom, Dick and Harry that coffee is hot. And the laws of this country should not have held McDonalds liable for serving a customer that was stupdi enough to think she should open a hot coffee between her legs as she drove.
I have no sympathy for the woman. And I have no symapthy for her supporters. If it weren't for our broken system of justice she would have learned a lesson. Instead she found out that you can be stupid and still make a lot of money. If you don't believe me ask the guys from Jackass.
*Brewing* coffee just short of boiling is very different than actually *serving* it at that same temperature.
Using your logic, McDonalds would also serve their french fries at 360 degrees.
#15: Yes, there was some hubbub a while ago about using the product "Brasso" to remove scratches on the iPod. This method has been attributed to todd dailey.
Incidentally, there were some hilarious, blog comments on his site about people having various degrees of success, with one dissatisfied commenter writing "Thanks, a lot Brasso."
http://todd.dailey.info/archives/2005/09/27/restore-your-ipod-nano-to-new-condition-with-a-4-can-of-brasso/
Who said the hatemail was coming solely from Apple fans?
That's a rather myopic assumption.
I'm sure a good portion of it was people that don't care for our overly litigious society and lash out at anyone that gets involved in many of these perceived-as-petty class action suits.
I've got a 20Gb iPod Photo and the screen gets scratches like a f***er!! C'mon apple get some decent plastics and coatings and perp hd in these things!
SHUT UP with the fanboys references already.. we get it.. people who like macs are "fanboys" -- I want whoever crafted that phrase to be shot.
I had a dunkin' donuts coffee before... does that make me a dunkin' donuts fanboy?
Krispy Kreme RULEZ!
You Dunkin' Donut fanboys are losers!!!!!
#20 :)
you know bill gates does read endgadget...
What kind of retard sends hate mail over the ipod nano. IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE FM BUILT IN!
"Krispy Kreme RULEZ!
You Dunkin' Donut fanboys are losers!!!!!"
Now that is hilarious!
Did that woman get a citation for unsafe driving? Sure, I dont like big companies as much as the next man, but she kind of had it coming. "Oh hell, I spilled catsup on my new suit. Damn that McDonalds for not using Heinz like everyone else, their synthetic stuff stains! I'm gonna file suit on their ass!"
DONT EAT AND DRIVE
Then no one's a d**chebag
(and..
From Wikipedia (url http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_%28injury%29 :
Third-degree burns [in addition to symptoms of first and second degree burns] have charring of the skin, and produce hard, leather-like eschars. An eschar is a scab that has separated from the unaffected part of the body. Frequently, there is also purple fluid. These types of burns are often painless, but sometimes do invole pain, (insensate) because nerve endings have been destroyed in the involved areas.
I didnt know you could do that with a fluid, but what does this have to do with Apple and this nano business?)
I'll be the lead plaintiff.
I'm pissed about my scratched up nano.
How come my camera, cell phone and psp, all older than the nano, don't have any scratches on them, but my nano does. That's after i put my nano in a drawer after 2 weeks of use because it makes me sick to look at it.
@ Ad -- # 3
What the hell does religion and being American have to do with a bunch of a_holes harassing some poor kid? Yes, there are a_holes in American... (and some of them get voted into public office). Not all of us act like that... it's insulting.
I'm sure that there are a_holes in England and in Europe as well. In Asia and in the Middle East. Don't single America out as the capital of assholes, just because our a_holes are the loudest of all. (The quiet ones are far more DEADLY!)
We can't control other people, we can ONLY control ourselves.
See, I'm quickly becoming an Apple fanboy myself, but I'd be the first to *commend* someone taking Apple to task for ignoring a quality control issue. It's a very Microsoft thing to do, pretend like nothing's wrong, and I don't want to see that become the norm for Apple. If that means the occasional class action, so be it. "Tough love," I guess.
BUT... That doesn't justify this greedy-lawyer fiasco one bit.
ZOMG Bill Gates reads all this?
Hi Billy! You should take advantage of this and make a scratch proof Mp3 player!
Oh, yea, and don't use aight ever again, Max had a great point...thanks.