Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Over Blackberry Service Outages

Of course we all saw this coming... or would have, if our BlackBerrys were working

Less than 2 weeks after the infamous services outages affecting Blackberry users worldwide, Canada's Research In Motion have a new reason to reach for the Tums. On October 26, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a Quebec superior court by the Consumer Law Group, on behalf customers, estimated to be close to 35 million, who were affected by the outage between October 11 and 14th, 2011. The suit focuses specifically on “RIM’s failure to take action to either directly compensate BlackBerry users or to indirectly compensate BlackBerry users by arranging for wireless service providers to refunds their customers and to take full responsibility for these damages.”

Though the legal basis for the suit is sure to be decided in the coming days, it's important to remember that RIM founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis did apologize for the outage in a somewhat emotional video posted October 13 to RIM's youtube page. Regarding their commitment to providing reliable, worldwide communication in real time, "We did not deliver on that goal this week," he admitted. "Not even close."

Since then, free tech support and access to several premium apps have been offered, however at present, no further compensation has been made available. Whether or not RIM decides to offer additional compensation will surely affect the suit, but whatever happens, they can at least rest assured they haven't been as universally humiliated as Sony Computer Entertainment. Yet, anyway.

You need to be logged to post a comment

There are 15 Comments.

Other Comments

0

Randomacts , October 28, 2011 9:21 AM

wut
3

Parsian , October 28, 2011 9:29 AM

frak this group.
6

Sunfighterlc , October 28, 2011 10:01 AM

Oh boy, class actions! Even when you win them you get 2 dollars the lawyers get millions. While RiM i think does need to offer more compensation other than programs, considering the monthly bills cell phones are these days, a class action is useless for the people. RiM should consider suing Canada though, think of all the accidents and lives that were saved by people not texting and driving!
8

sykozis , October 28, 2011 10:44 AM

Ya know....every time I think that intelligence might just exist on this planet.....some pathetic group of idiots pops up and files a class-action suit because they think their lives were irreparably interrupted due to a service outage....
2

fonzy , October 28, 2011 11:19 AM

The powers that be are out to bring blackberry down, for their own consumption.
3

stingstang , October 28, 2011 11:30 AM

They must not have been able to change their user agreement to say they can't be the receiver of a class-action lawsuit.
2

alidan , October 28, 2011 11:57 AM

you know, with sony, i can see a class action, they royally screwed up, and the only real way to make change on an international corporation, would be to kick it in its wallet, they will go to any measure to protect the money they have, and not spend money if its not 100% needed. kick them in the wallet, and they will do better risk analysis.

but "BOO HOO I WENT 3 DAYS WITHOUT FULL USE OF MY PHONE, WOLD OVER" someone needs to kicked the people who proposed this in the balls till they are so damaged they cant reproduce, or kids or for fun. 3 days of no phone... i haven't used a phone in 8 years.
5

anonymous@guest , October 28, 2011 12:41 PM

3 days down after years of constant service then you sue... right.... I'm sure somewhere in their long TOS says something about "99% uptime" which should cover them from being sued for being down anyways.
0

cats_Paw , October 28, 2011 3:48 PM

In this case i would not take action. In spain where internet is a blood drainer and the quality of the service is more horrible than a kryptonite bullet on supermans genitals... Id go for it.

I hope this DOES reach the spanish comunity and HOPEFULLY make the internet providers get scared enought to lower their prices AND improve quality.
0

de5_Roy , October 28, 2011 6:00 PM

cloud fail without the silver lining
3

icecreambarr , October 28, 2011 9:51 PM

What!?! I'm a customer in Quebec and I didn't sign this, nor do I want this class action... how am I included in this? I called the "Consumer Law Group Inc." (514-266-7863) in Montreal and they confirmed they are behind the class action suit. The phone was answered "Ornstein Law Group, I mean Consumer Law Group" They have 3 employees. I was hung up on when I asked how dare they include me in a law suit that I think is wrong.

Canada is NOT a Country that uses legal avenues to get back at someone for a "black eye". We deal with it and move on. Consumer Law Group: you do not represent me and I think your policy to sue does not represent the courage Canadian's have to look at the bigger picture, even when it's unpopular. Kindness and understanding are the principles we stand on, not litigious cry baby-ism.
3

cookoy , October 29, 2011 2:26 AM

What next, a class action lawsuit against every city for all the traffic jams? Then go after all car manufacturers for producing all those cars?
0

anonymous@guest , October 29, 2011 2:42 AM

I too think that this is a silly thing to pursue.. I didn't miss my phone too much and I use it every day. So I had to go without email and bbm for a few days.. get over yourself if you are so vain that you need to sue for such a thing..

I read an article about this where the guy who started a similar suit is going to get $1.25 for the three days.. GIVE up and return your phone if you need that money back.. You do not need a smartphone or even a cellphone at this point.
1

maestintaolius , October 29, 2011 5:09 AM

Yeah, on behalf of the users... sure it is. Clearly, this is a lawyer money grab because the compensation for each user that they're seeking was something like a 1.25$. Of course, multiply that by 35 million, take 20-50% of that for 'legal fees' and you get a pretty big lawyer payday. Someone in CA is trying this nonsense too. I'm usually surprised that lawyers try this kind of obviously frivolous stuff considering judges can, and do, leverage pretty hefty fines on the perpetrators of frivolous suits.
0

eddieroolz , October 29, 2011 11:54 AM

The claims are ridiculous. No action to compensate? RIM is offering a $100 package of apps. Besides, having a 99% service uptime for secure communication and people are complaining?

Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Over Blackberry Service Outages

Tom’s guide in the world