Google Settles Class Action Lawsuit, Will Pay Defective Pixel XL Phone Owners Up to $500

There was a class action lawsuit because Google’s Pixel smart phones were glitching in several ways. If you bought one of these phones recently, you may have a part of the settlement cash waiting for you. See link to form for Pixel Owner claims below.

May 15, 2019

Google has agreed to settle the lawsuit for $7.25 million. That money will go toward legal fees and payments to Pixel and Pixel XL owners.

When Google entered into selling premium phone it released the first Pixel phones. Starting in 2006 these HTC-manufactured devices were more expensive than the company’s old Nexus phones, but they showed superior quality. But then a problem developed in a manufacturing defect. Today, Google has settled a class action lawsuit alleging serious issues with the first-generation Pixel phone microphone. Some buyers were reporting problems with the microphone. On certain devices, owners encountered problems with voice clarity and volume on phone calls and Assistant voice controls. Google technicians tracked the problem down to a “hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec” This was a broken connection to a programmable solid state chip that controls some audio functions.

The company took proper steps to prevent the solder joint failures on their phones. It continued selling the existing stock of Pixels. Google contends that less than 1 percent of Pixel and Pixel XL units suffered from the cracked solder, but the lawsuit claimed Google shouldn’t have been selling the phones at all until the defective ones were all fixed.

The settlement proposal divides the class of Pixel owners up into four levels. This is a common way class action funds are disbursed. Those who get the largest payout are the ones who returned a Pixel for having a defective mic and then got a replacement phone that also had a defective mic. They’ll get up to $500 in compensation. The next level down has the Pixel owners who had a single faulty microphone incident. Meanwhile, anyone who paid an insurance deductible to have their defective Pixel replaced should get reimbursement from the settlement fund. At the lowest level Pixel owners who never encountered the defective microphone issue can get $20 from the settlement.

The court has not approved the settlement, but the law firm representing Google Pixel owners expects it will be. Google and Huawei previously settled a more serious Nexus 6P class action for $9.75 million, so the Pixel settlement seems in-line with recent cases. The law firm conducting the class action lawsuit has provided a link to join the lawsuit. They made it as easy as going here where you can fill out a form. Then you will also get updates as the case winds down and the claim forms become available.