UCL Class Action Alleging Apple iPod Created Unreasonable Risk of Hearing Loss Properly Dismissed for Failure to State a Claim because while iPod was Capable of Causing Hearing Loss it was Consumer Behavior that Proximately Caused Injury rather than iPod’s Design Ninth Circuit Holds
Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Apple alleging inter alia violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL); specifically, the class action complaint alleged that Apple’s iPod “is defective because it poses an unreasonable risk of noise-induced hearing loss to its users.” Birdsong v. Apple, Inc., 590 F.3d 955 (9th Cir. 2009) [Slip Opn., at 16867, 16870.] Federal court jurisdiction was premised on the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). Id., at 16872 n.1. The class action originated in Louisiana, but it was transferred to California and a California resident was added as a putative class representative in the third amended class action complaint. Id., at 16871. According to the allegations underlying the class action complaint, the iPods were sold with “detachable ‘earbud’ headphones” (but other headphones and audio devices could be used for playback), and were capable of “producing sounds as loud as 115 decibels.” Id., at 16870. Each iPod can with a warning concerning the risk of hearing damage, id., at 16870-71. The class action alleged that iPod’s ability to produce 115 decibels was a “defect” that constituted a “breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose,” id., at 16870. Defense attorneys moved to dismiss the third amended class action complaint for failure to state a claim and on the ground that plaintiffs lacked standing to prosecute the class action’s UCL claim. Id. The district court granted the motion and dismissed the class action. Id., at 16871-72. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.
The Circuit Court first summarized California law concerning the implied warranty of merchantability. See Birdsong, at 16872-73. The district court dismissed that class action claim based on its determination that it was the manner in which a consumer used the iPod, not its design, that created the risk of hearing loss. Id., at 16873. The Ninth Circuit agreed, explaining at page 16873 that “the iPod has an ‘ordinary purpose of listening to music,’ and nothing [plaintiffs] allege suggests iPods are unsafe for that use or defective.” While iPods are capable of playing music at loud volumes, and capable of playing music for 12-14 hours before the batteries need to be recharged or replaced, the bottom line is that “users have the option of using an iPod in a risky manner, not that the product lacks any minimum level of quality.” Id.
With respect to the class action’s UCL claim, the Ninth Circuit began by noting that California voters amended the standing requirements under the UCL so that plaintiffs must have suffered an injury in fact under the federal law. Birdsong, at 16875-76 (citation omitted). The Circuit Court held that “the plaintiffs have not alleged the requisite injury in fact to have standing,” id., at 16876. The Ninth Circuit explained at page 16877: “The plaintiffs do not claim that they suffered or imminently will suffer hearing loss from their iPod use. The plaintiffs do not even claim that they used their iPods in a way that exposed them to the alleged risk of hearing loss. At most, the plaintiffs plead a potential risk of hearing loss not to themselves, but to other unidentified iPod users who might choose to use their iPods in an unsafe manner.” Accordingly, “The plaintiffs have not shown the requisite injury to themselves and therefore lack standing.” Id. The Circuit Court also found that the alleged injury was “hypothetical,” id., at 16878, and that the economic harm allegedly suffered did not constitute an injury in fact, id., at 16878-79. The Circuit Court therefore affirmed the district court order dismissing the class action. Id., at 16879.
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