Edible Apple

Apple is no stranger to frivolous lawsuits as it seems that not a week goes by where we don’t hear of a new patent troll trying to get rich quick with some second-hand patent portfolio. What’s more, folks in today’s litigious society are quick to pull the legal trigger at a second’s notice. How else can you explain asinine people who, for example, prefer to sue over iPhone 4 antenna issues than to actually return the device for a full refund.

As far as moronic lawsuits go, though, this one might take the cake.

Back when Antennagate was all the rage, you might remember that Apple acknowledged that the formula it used to determine how many signal bars to display was off. As a result, users were led to believe that their signal strength was stronger than it in fact was.

Consequently, plaintiff Daniel Donohue decided to sue Apple. Donahue believes he is entitled to money because “the value of an iPhone with a fatally flawed Signal Strength Meter is less than the value of the same iPhone without the flaw.”

So essentially, we have a moron here looking to make a quick and easy buck because his iPhone’s resale value has taken a hit. Of course, never mind the fact that Apple subsequently issued an iOS update which addressed the bug that inexplicably troubled Donahue so terribly he decided to contact a lawyer. And oddly enough, the complaint says that Donahue is “a citizen of Oklahoma or Washington.” Hmm, can someone say shady?

In any event, Donohue says the class action encapsulates all users who purchased an iPhone before July 2010. But since iOS 4 runs on all iPhone models aside from the original, the class action really only applies to the original iPhone which was released over 4 years ago.

Donohue further claims that by the time Apple issued a fix for the problem, it was already well beyond the 30-day window where he could return the device. And almost comically, plaintiff in this case wasn’t even using an original iPhone, admitting he purchased an iPhone 3GS in early January.

As for damages, Donohue says that the faulty signal resulted in him placing and receiving calls he wouldn’t have otherwise have made had it not been for the faulty iPhone signal.