Owners of certain Mac laptops can now claim their payouts in the “butterfly keyboard” lawsuit settlement.
The lawsuit claims that “thousands” of MacBook and MacBook Pro owners experienced some type of failure with Apple’s butterfly keyboard, thus rendering the machines useless. The suit claims the design is such that small amounts of dust or debris impede normal switch behavior, causing keystrokes to go unregistered.
Apple debuted its “butterfly” keyswitch design in the 12-inch MacBook before incorporating an improved second-generation version in 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pros.
Here are some of the settlement details from an email that I received:
A Settlement has been reached with Apple Inc. (“Apple”) in a class action lawsuit alleging that the “butterfly” keyboard mechanism in certain MacBook laptops is defective, and can result in characters repeating unexpectedly; letters or characters not appearing; and/or the keys feeling “sticky” or not responding in a consistent manner.
Apple denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit, denies that any MacBooks are defective, and denies that Apple did anything improper or unlawful. The proposed Settlement is not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing of any kind by Apple. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California approved this notice.
Apple has agreed to pay $50 million into a Settlement Fund. After deducting Court-approved attorneys’ fees (up to 30% of the Settlement Fund) and expenses, service awards (up to $5,000 to each of the 12 individual class representatives), and the costs of notice and settlement administration, the net Settlement Fund will be distributed to Settlement Class Members based on the type and number of keyboard repairs they obtained, and other factors.
The amount of the payments for each Group will vary depending on the number of valid claims received. Group 1 Settlement Class Members are estimated to receive a payment between $300 and $395. Eligible Group 2 Settlement Class Members are estimated to receive up to $125 and eligible Group 3 Settlement Class Members are estimated to receive up to $50. We will not know the final amounts that each Group will receive until all claims are evaluated.
To file a claim, click here. You will be required to provide reasonable documentation that you obtained a qualifying keyboard repair. You must also declare that the information in the Claim Form is accurate and that the keyboard repair did not resolve your keyboard issue. Your claim must be submitted electronically or postmarked no later than March 65, 2023, in order to be considered for payment.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today