Sony Xperia Class Action Lawsuit Over Waterproofing Ends In Settlement And Payments For Consumers

A preliminary settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Sony Mobile Communications Inc., resolving claims that Xperia smart phones and tablets were falsely advertised as waterproof, leaving consumers with damaged devices. 

On August 22, a Federal court in New York approved the Sony Xperia class action settlement, which gives consumers several options, including refunds, extended warranties or options to file a separate lawsuit against the smartphone manufacturer.

The Sony Xperia lawsuit was filed on April 14, 2017 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, seeking class action status for individuals who had purchased one of 24 models of smartphones or tablets, which were falsely marketed to consumers as waterproof, when in fact the devices fail to fully prevent water from entering.

According to allegations raised in the original complaint, Sony “designed, manufactured, distributed, advertised and sold certain Mobile Devices that were alleged to be misrepresented as waterproof, but are, in fact, not waterproof and are not designed for or capable of ordinary underwater use.” Plaintiffs maintained that Sony falsely misrepresented the Xperia devices as waterproof, which resulted in thousands of consumers with damaged or irreparable devices.

Among other allegations, plaintiffs indicate that Sony exploited certain international water resistance ratings in order to launch and justify their deceptive marketing campaign promoting the devices were waterproof. The lawsuit cited several marketing campaigns which identify Sony claiming the devices to be “waterproof” rather than “water-resistant”.

The devices named in the lawsuit that consumers have a right to pursue a claim against the manufacturer for are the Xperia M2 Aqua, Xperia M4 Aqua, Xperia ZR, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z1s (T-Mobile), Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3 (T-Mobile), Xperia Z3v (Verizon), Xperia Z3 Dual, Xperia Z3+ Dual, Xperia Z3+, Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z2 Tablet (Wi-Fi), Xperia Z2 Tablet (LTE), Xperia Z2 Tablet (Verizon LTE), Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (Wi-Fi), Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (LTE), Xperia Z4 Tablet (Wi-Fi) and the Xperia Z4 Tablet (LTE).

A federal court in New York ruled against Sony in the class action suit, and a preliminary settlement was announced yesterday, allowing several options to consumers with the defective devices.

For consumers wishing to pursue claims through the class action lawsuit to seek compensation for up to 50% of the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price for the devices, claims must be submitted by January 30, 2018. The court has scheduled a fairness hearing that will be held on December 1, 2017.

All of the consumer options and deadlines for filing claims can be found by visiting the website appointment and supervised by the Class Action Settlement Administrator at http://www.xperiawaterproofsettlement.com/.