Apple Settles Power Adapter Suit

May 8th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - News by Jeff Gamet

Apple may have finally resolved a 2006 class action law suit that alleged the company misrepresented sparking issues some of its iBook and PowerBook power adapters exhibited. The company agreed to pay qualifying Mac owners between US$25 and $79, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Estimates put the number of potentially qualifying Mac owners in the neighborhood of 2.3 million. The agreement earned preliminary approval in the San Jose U.S. District Court on March 24, but is awaiting final approval on September 8.

The class action suit claimed that the laptop power adapter "dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work." Apple issued a recall for about 570,000 adapters in 2001 and offered free replacements after receiving reports of overheating issues.

Once the final settlement is approved, Apple will offer cash payments to qualifying customers that purchased Apple-branded or third party power adapters to replace faulty units.