Pearson, Simon & Warshaw, LLP and co-counsel were appointed as co-lead
counsel in a nationwide lawsuit concerning software developed by Defendant
Carrier iQ that was deployed on millions of U.S. mobile devices. Plaintiffs
allege that the software, in addition to gathering data about cellular
service quality, intercepted private communications, content, and data
on these devices. Plaintiffs allege that under certain circumstances,
this private content has been, or could have been, transmitted off mobile
devices without customers’ knowledge to third parties, including
at least one device manufacturer and the author of the Android operating
system. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Wiretap Act, various
state privacy and wiretap acts, various state consumer protection acts,
the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and the implied warranty of merchantability
under various state laws. Defendants deny these allegations.
Defendants are Carrier iQ, Inc.; HTC America, Inc.; HTC Corporation; Huawei
Device USA, Inc.; LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc.; LG Electronics,
Inc.; Motorola Mobility LLC; Pantech Wireless, Inc.; Samsung Electronics
America, Inc.; and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
On March 1, 2016 the Honorable Edward M. Chen granted preliminary approval
of a $9M gross class action settlement that provides cash relied to consumers
that own the affected mobile devices and file a timely and valid claim.
In addition to the gross settlement, Defendant Carrier iQ agreed as part
of the Amended Settlement Agreement to provide certain non-monetary relief,
including the capability for wireless carriers to designate a port on
a mobile device separate from the one used to send and receive SMS text
messages for communicating instructions to the Carrier iQ software; privacy
safeguards for URL metrics requested by Carrier iQ customers; and guidance
to handset manufacturers on disabling logging functions that may be used
during the debugging process before shipping devices for production. As
part of the settlement, Carrier iQ represents and warrants that it implemented
this relief prior to a sale of its assets to AT&T Mobility IP, LLC in 2015.
Carrier iQ also has fixed a software bug that had created the potential
for the collection of data during error conditions, and prior to the 2015
sale of its assets to AT&T Mobility, it created testing protocols
to prevent similar bugs in future deployments.
The deadline to make a claim was June 4, 2016.
A settlement website has been established at
www.carrieriqsettlement.com. The settlement website enables consumers to make a claim online, download
a claim form, access relevant case documents and provides detailed information
about the settlement.
If you would like to contact PS&W about this case, please
contact us.