Millions of people are receiving checks from the “Replacement Device Lawsuit” in the mail, the result of a $95 million class action lawsuit settlement against Apple. In my latest video we dive into the lawsuit and how it appears as though the claims administrator may have misspelled the names of many of the recipients.
The lawsuit claimed that those receiving AppleCare replacement phones and iPads were getting devices of a lower quality than the customers’ original devices. The settlement resulted in payouts for 3.3 million people, but many recipients didn’t know about the lawsuit until the check arrived. Those who didn’t opt out by the deadline are now part of the class and are barred from suing Apple over this issue in the future.
The settlement details can be found at replacementdevicelawsuit.com. Lawyers received $1.3 million in costs and almost $27 million in attorney’s fees, while the two individuals who initiated the lawsuit were given bonuses of $15,000 and $12,500. Members of the class are receiving just under $15 per device covered in the lawsuit.
A major issue with the payouts is that many recipients’ names on the checks are incorrect. The company responsible for distributing the checks, Epiq, rolled up records with the same name and contact information, possibly leading to mix-ups. Many recipients, myself included, have reported their banks rejecting the deposits due to incorrect names. You can find many more examples on this Reddit post I made a few days ago. I have reached out to Epiq but have not heard back from them at the time of publication.
Epiq claims to have reached 94% of the identified class, but it is uncertain how many people actually received the email notices vs. having them them land in spam folders. Recipients now have a narrow window to correct their names and must do so via mail, causing further inconvenience.
The leftover settlement money’s fate remains uncertain; it could be donated, put into funds, or claimed by lawyers. With many checks bearing incorrect names or appearing as a scam to the recipient, it is likely that a significant sum will remain unclaimed. The case highlights the importance of opting out of class action lawsuits when possible, as participating may mean giving up rights without receiving much in the way of compensation.