Apple will pay $50 million to settle 'butterfly' keyboard class-action lawsuit

Apple will pay $50 million to settle ‘butterfly’ keyboard class-action lawsuit

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You might be in for some money if you had problems with a MacBook butterfly keyboard.
Photo: Apple

Apple agreed to a preliminary settlement Monday for a class-action lawsuit that claimed the company knew the MacBook’s “butterfly” keyboard was defective but kept selling it. Apple admits no wrongdoing but agreed to pay up to $50 million, most of which will go to customers who had to replace the faulty keyboards.

This is good news for people in seven U.S. states who experienced problems with their MacBook butterfly keyboard.

Floats like a butterfly, jams up like a keyboard

Apple introduced the butterfly design in 2015 and built it into MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air for several years. It’s very slim but some users claim that the keys can become permanently jammed by small pieces of grit. The fix required replacing the entire keyboard and other components.

Apple began offering free repairs in 2018, and eventually brought in the Magic keyboard as a replacement. But the lawsuits for earlier models persisted. The two sides reached preliminary settlement for a class-action lawsuit Monday, according to Reuters.

Much of the money Apple will pay goes to MacBook owners. “Lawyers for the customers expect maximum payouts of $395 to people who replaced multiple keyboards, $125 to people who replaced one keyboard, and $50 to people who replaced key caps,” reports Reuters.

This class-action suit covers people who bought a MacBook with a butterfly keyboard made from 2015 to 2019 in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington. Details on how to make a claim will surely be announced after a judge approves the preliminary agreement between Apple and the lawyers representing users in the suit.

The lawsuit being settled is MacBook Keyboard Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-02813.