Consumers sue Apple, taking page from US Justice Department lawsuit By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: New iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are displayed in the course of the ‘Wonderlust’ occasion on the firm’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2023. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Picture

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) – Apple (NASDAQ:) has been hit with a flurry of recent client lawsuits accusing the iPhone maker of monopolizing the smartphone market, piggybacking on a sweeping antitrust case lodged by the U.S. Justice Division and 15 states final week.

A minimum of three proposed class actions have been filed since Friday in California and New Jersey federal courts by iPhone house owners who declare Apple inflated the price of its merchandise by anticompetitive conduct.

The lawsuits, searching for to characterize tens of millions of customers, mirror the Justice Division’s claims that Apple violated U.S. antitrust legislation by suppressing expertise for messaging apps, digital wallets and different objects that will have elevated competitors out there for smartphones.

Apple has denied the federal government’s allegations. The Cupertino, California-based firm didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the buyer lawsuits.

Lawyer Steve Berman, whose legislation agency Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro filed one of many new circumstances, famous that his agency had earlier sued Apple for allegedly thwarting competitors for its Apple Pay cellular pockets.

“We’re happy that the DOJ (Division of Justice) agrees with our strategy,” Berman stated.

Attorneys behind the opposite new circumstances didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Apple is already preventing non-public lawsuits difficult its enterprise practices as anticompetitive. A choose in February dominated that Apple should face a category motion on behalf of tens of millions of customers claiming it monopolized the marketplace for iPhone apps. Apple denies the claims.

Hagens Berman beforehand secured a mixed $550 million in settlements from Apple in separate circumstances associated to its e book pricing and app retailer insurance policies.

A 2022 examine by a College of Buffalo legislation faculty professor discovered that personal antitrust class actions can generally go farther than authorities circumstances, increasing “the scope of wrongdoing, the quantity of restoration, or the variety of defendants concerned.”