RIM faces legal action following service outages

Canucks quick to class action suit

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco, 27th October 2011

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RIM has been sued in its home country following the series of outages that hit customers throughout much of the world.

The suit has been filed on behalf of a Canadian user of a Blackberry Curve 9300, who paid $25 a month for 1GB of access and lost service for a day and a half. The user wants to be compensated to the tune of $1.25 (plus interest) for his loss of access. The complaint seeks class action status so others are open to join the case if they live in Canada.

“[The] Petitioner is in good faith and has instituted this action for the sole goal of having his rights, as well as the rights of other class members, recognized and protected so that they may be compensated for the damages that they have suffered as a consequence of the Respondent’s conduct,” the court filing reads.

The suit claims that the $100 of applications RIM has made available to customers by way of an apology is not enough, and unsuitable for the plaintiff's needs. It goes on to say that he deserves to be compensated for his time. The company has also offered a month’s free technical support.

The outages began on 10 October, with customers in Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa eventually having three days without service, and US, Canadian, and Latin American handsets down for a little over a day. RIM blamed the problem on a faulty switch, and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis issued a video apology. ®

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