The plaintiff's iPhone stopped working immediately after it came into contact with water near a pool
The case, which attorney Joey Zukran is seeking to convert into a class action lawsuit, involves a 19-year-old college student who was in Mexico when her iPhone got wet near a pool. Zukran said the iPhone, which she bought brand new eight months ago, immediately stopped working. His client took the damaged phone to the Genius Bar at an Apple Store and was told it could not be repaired because the device had been exposed to water.
Water damage is not covered by Apple's iPhone warranty. | Image credit: Apple
“So the warranty says it doesn't cover contact with liquids, which is completely ridiculous when you look at Apple's marketing. How can you exclude liquids when you advertise that you can drop it in a pool and it still won't do any good? … My clients and many others who contact their office have nothing wrong. Apple refuses to fix the problem and the only solution is to buy a brand new phone.” Joey Zukran, iPhone owner's attorney
Zukran, who works for the law firm LPC Avocats, wants Apple to remove the part of its warranty that excludes water damage. He also wants Apple to compensate those who had to pay to repair their water-damaged iPhone or buy a new device, and to pay class members an additional $500 each.
“So basically you have a contract that says your phone is 'oops resistant', you can drop it in the pool and everything will be fine, only to then say a few paragraphs later that contact with liquids will void your warranty. So you have two conflicting clauses in a consumer contract, which again, by law, must be interpreted in favor of the consumer or the contracting party.” Joey Zukran, lawyer for the iPhone owner
The lawyer had already won a victory against Apple and the iPhone in 2018. Zukran and another lawyer had successfully sued Apple over a warranty issue related to the iPhone battery. The original ruling against Apple was upheld by the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2021.
In 2022, a U.S. district judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apple of misrepresenting the iPhone's water resistance
It might take a landmark legal defeat against Apple or another major smartphone maker to get them to include water damage in the warranty when you buy a new phone. Such a ruling could have a major impact on the entire industry, since in most cases consumers are held responsible for water getting into their phones, regardless of what the manufacturer says in advertising about water resistance.