Our usual rule is to ignore attention-seeking class-action lawsuits until they make it past the critical step of being certified by a judge, but we think it's pretty wild that the
Sidekick debacle has already resulted in two separate suits in two different states. That's a turnaround time of just a few days, really -- and now that Microsoft is saying it can restore
most of the lost data, it'll be interesting to see if these cases can push on past the early stages. Both the California and Washington state cases allege that T-Mobile misled customers into thinking their data was secure, but for some reason we're particularly amused at the California case filed by a mother whose aspiring model and singer-songwriter daughter lost "photos and song lyrics" she'd entrusted to her Sidekick -- honestly, what judge
can't relate to her situation?
posted Oct 15th 2009 1:26PM
And so people undust their old sidekicks and demand money.
oh i lost a baby i had with my sidekick can i sue them for this?
i hope this shuts up the pro-cloud computing croud
*Crowd
I'd like to get in on that class action suit just to get money from Microsoft and I don't even own a Sidekick. It's just a matter of principle. Think how many lives were completely ruined when user's Sidekicks stopped functioning for a week. I'd say anguish and suffering should be worth about $10,000 per user. Down with evil Microsoft. Boo. Hiss. Get revenge, buy an iPhone.
Hey, what if you lost all your porn, wouldn't you sue?
Just go to the priest in the pictures and ask him for his backups.
it's a sidekick... to the head.
Chuck Norris has taught you well.
Everyone knows Chuck Norris is the Roundhouse. Jonathan Brandis was the Sidekick.
Another win for lawyers. A complete loss for everyone else.
Right now, I don't know what profession I dislike more: Bankers or Lawyers.
Can we get a income cap on Bankers, Executives and Lawyers please? That would fix health care pretty well. No more 90% of income going to pay for Bonuses.
I don't like doctors. They greet me nicely but when I see I don't have insurance, they run away from me like a had the H1N1 :(
It is a BIG WIN for consumers! Big slap in the face for Microsoft
for cost cutting their product support. Do doubt more litigations
to come!
An income cap? In my America? Its not as likely as you think.
You know, not every lawyer out there is some ambulance chaser just waiting to prey on people and file frivolous lawsuits. Granted, there are a lot of them out there, and maybe more in CA than other states, but I hate when people lump an entire profession into some negative stereotype just because of a few bad eggs.
I'll admit I jumped the gun, but this and almost every class action law suit is just a way for lawyers to justify even more resisiculous legal fees. Hardly ever does the consumer actually get what they are due and then the company just fronts those costs onto, guess who, that's right the consumer.
I pretty much agree with you. And especially because you used the word "resisiculous" :P
In legal terms, information is considered property, and Microsoft, T-Mobile, and others are all liable, whether they were or were not at fault. If they claim that your data will be safe, they are at fault. Also, and I don't understand why this needs to be repeatedly said, the average user does know, nor does not think it is necessary when they are told it will be safe, to back up data on a phone; most don't even know how a cloud network works. This does not mean the information holders are allowed to be reckless with it (e.g., not having a RAID set up). If they claimed in the product labeling (this includes labeling on the device packaging, in the manual, or marketing literature) or in advertising that the data are suppose to be safe, this will be a slam dunk case and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum (most likely). If they provided themselves an escape clause at any time, this case might get interesting. I bet the case T-Mobile will probably bring against Microsoft will be even better than these. It probably won't matter whether the data are restored successfully, these have had a massive negative effect already.
Since the lawyers write the service agreements, I am betting that in the fine print somewhere that T-mobile absolves itself of all responsibility.
The real issue with the lawsuit will not be proving that microsoft/t-mobile acted irresponsibly, but proving that the lost data actually has some sort of monetary value.
Microsoft/t-mobile might as well start the lawsuit by stipulating that they were responsibe for providing safe keeping for the data. They will still win in the end, because the monetary value of the data is nil.
The inconvenience of having to recover all my lost addresses and phone numbers, passport numbers, and etc (all of that stuff that I keep in one spot one my ohone to make identity theft easier)? Not worth a dime.
Guy 1: "We lost your ball..."
Guy 2: "Give me my dang ball back, you owe me!!!"
Guy 1: "Tell you what, we will give you all that we can if we can't find your ball...we are sorry!"
Guy 2: "Not gonna cut it...I never forgive anyone!"
Guy 1: "We'll give you even more to compensate! We're trying, we just can't find your ball, we are really sorry, can't you forgive us!?"
Guy 2: "Still not gonna cut it"
Guy 1: "We found your ball!"
Guy 2: "I'm still suing you..."
That is such a great analogy. Seriously people are way to quick to sue these days. It's really annoying. "Oh no something didn't go exactly as I planned/wanted, who can I blame and get some money from??"
"Greed is good. Greed works."
Best analogy ever.
You sir win for today
Doesn't work, and I hate the litigation culture. What happens if this ball was needed for a big game that guy 2 said he'd provide? Guy 2 therefore looks like an ass and loses money (and respect). If guy 1 has said he'd keep the ball safe, and guy 2 trusted him, he is well within his rights to break balls.
If you left your mums ashes with your friend, asked for them back as you had a family event where they wanted to see them, and your friend said they were definitely lost, you'd kill him. If 5 days later he said he had them, its regardless; when you needed the item, it wasn't there.
Or need to pay a bill, so you go to the bank and the ATM says, 'Sorry, your account is lost', no chance of any recompence. You go back to the land lord and you can't pay the rent so you're out on the streets. You go back to the ATM 5 days later and you get your cash, yes you have your money, but its the time that matters.
These examples are over the top, but thats not the point. Peoples data means a lot.
People aren't suing for the apparently lost but now found data, its the inconvience of lost service and lack of access to data they own.
While in a basic sense I like (and laughed at) the analogy, it's not true that people's contacts and information have no monetary value. While I realize the vast majority of Sidekick users are probably 13 year olds with too much time on their hands, I'm sure there are some legitimate Sidekick owners out there that depend heavily on it working as advertised. If those same people can demonstrate that they reasonably relied on T-Mobile, Microsoft, etc., to manage their data, and missed out on some business transaction/investment opportunity/any other thing of value, because their data was lost, they have a completely legitimate claim.
Again, I realize that's probably not the case for most Sidekick users, but what if this had happened to all Blackberry/iPhone/Pre users, for example. Half of you wouldn't even be on Engadget posting; you'd be sending in you "I agree to be a part of this class action" pamphlet.
Wow... "misled customers into thinking their data was secure". What a freaking joke. They did not "mislead" anyone, and you will have one hell of a time proving that they intentionally lost the data. In fact, this case will be laughed out of court. Dear god the US court systems are a joke (says an American).
While I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, it doesn't need to be demonstrated that they intentionally lost the data, just that they negligently lost it. And honestly, from what I understand about how the data was outsourced, I would say there was gross negligence involved.
Well the hobos already lost given that MS is claiming that they can/will restore all the data.
who the hell is Maureen Thompson??
FYI Maureen Thompsons daughter is the aspiring model and singer song writer Not Maureen Thompson herself.
Who the hell in their right mind writes songs and lyrics on a Sidekick?
AN IDIOT!
Someone who needs a good argument to sue people with. I don't believe her myself.
Friend of mine wrote a novel on his HP phone.
I do belive that they mentioned "aspiring model and singer song writer".
Of course it's an idiot!
well, microsoft was likely able to recover her data, so that should be interesting when they produce a copy of it at discovery and there are no song lyrics or recording of hers to be found anywhere in the data, now or ever.
the US justice system needs a system of checks and balances that apply directly to citizens who choose to use it for dubious reasons like this... if your questionable civil suit gets thrown out, both the lawyer and their client must pay the judge, all associated courtroom staffers, and non-corporate defendants their annual salary for one year for attempting to bring a frivolous lawsuit to trial. the money saved because of this restitution would reduce the tax burden on more responsible citizens while serving as suitable risk to help weed out these types of jackasses.
@oakie, that makes so much common sense that it'll never be implemented...
Drake (the hip hop artist) flows off the blackberry!
theres a video of him reading his verses while he raps.
plausible, maybe.
@ Oakie
See Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(c)(4)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule11.htm
Oh boy. Here we go taxdollars at work. Unnecessarily clogging up the court systems. There goes the $39,000 I paid in taxes last year. Sucks dude.
@ Truth
How Much Does It Pay to be Steve Job's Personal Bitch??
She shouldve gotten iPhone $49.
iTunes wiuldve saved your a$$..,.,.
Ooops - I just logged in as Guest on my MacBook Pro that I upgraded to SnowLeopard and lost everything including all of my iTunes music and iPhone data and my 85,000 apps.
I'm sorry, but as someone who lost important photos before I could back them up, I understand the frustration. Besides, T-Mobile isn't the slightest bit forgiving or understanding when people can't pay their bills or are late are they? I'm not trying to be petty but expecting them to compensate you even after they find your crap isn't any different than them expecting you to pay the late fees after you finally get the money to pay your bill. Hell, it can be a rough economy and when they expect you to pony up 200 bucks a line to cancel your contrat its hard to feel sorry for their woes any more than they feel sorry for yours.
Its amazing to read logic on these boards.
Well, they're pretty damn forgiving. First of all - if you can't pay your bill, they will let you use your phone AND text messaging features for almost a full month and a half after the missed payment.
AND... even when they shut your service off - you can still receive calls (good for people who are waiting on an employer to call them back, emergencies, ect.)
I dunno, it sounds pretty damn forgiving to me, considering you signed the damn contract that spelled it all out from the very beginning that you would stick with them for at least two years, and pay them every month for service.
It really ends up being your stupid decision to sign on to use a company for two full years.
Oh yeah, that measly $200 you pay (when you decide to BREAK your LEGAL agreement) covers the cost of you $400 phone that you got for free. So... it sounds pretty damn fair all and all.
funny... perez hilton is probably gonna be the main person to sue cuz he lost his contact book of 2,000 plus celebs and no 1 wanted to give him their number. i know they all rejoiced when this happened. another thing about this debacle: i hate how they were all getting mad a T-Mobile. it was Microsoft/Danger's faux pas. plus, anyone who has a head on their shoulders would back up their data regardless if they're told they don't need to.
just sayin'
Perez Hilton, for f*ck sake! She lost all her contacts, OMG!!!!one11!!
Who cares, seriously?
That's 'Paris Hilton'
'Perez Hilton' is a man. Well, nominally a man.
I thought it would take at least a month or two before the law suits got started.