Judge rules Apple cannot move consumer privacy lawsuit to private arbitration

In Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that Apple must continue fighting a consumer privacy lawsuit in open court and can’t move the suit behind closed doors into private arbitration.

Tigran Ohanian and Regge Lopez sued Apple and T-Mobile in a class action lawsuit last July, alleging a flaw existed that allowed previous SIM card holders to access another iPhone user’s iMessages and FaceTime calls because the SIM card was still associated with another Apple ID. Ohanian and Lopez accused Apple of deceptive conduct for its data privacy and security practices of iMessage and FaceTime and alleged that T-Mobile engaged in deceptive conduct regarding SIM card recycling.

Joel Rosenblatt for Bloomberg News:

U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in New York on Tuesday rejected Apple’s and co-defendant T-Mobile USA Inc.’s argument that provisions in T-Mobile’s terms and conditions require consumer disputes to be arbitrated.

MacDailyNews Note: The case is Ohanian v. Apple Inc., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.