Apple Illegally Seizes Content, Apps if Payment Method Fails to Process, Class Action Alleges

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Apple faces a proposed class action that alleges the tech giant has unlawfully seized and prevented customers from accessing their digital content and apps should their method of payment be rejected by a bank or expired.

The 14-page breach-of-contract lawsuit alleges that Apple, in the event that a customer’s payment method fails to process, will immediately seize all of the consumer’s digital content—music, movies, shows, books—and apps regardless of the amount of debt owed or the number of units of already-purchased content that someone has on the company’s platform. 

“Thus, if a payment for a $4.99 purchase is rejected for whatever reason, Defendant will seize all purchased content even if the amount paid for the seized content was $100 or $10,000,” the complaint claims. “Upon seizure, consumers are prevented from viewing or listening to the Digital Content and/or using any of the Apps.” 

According to the lawsuit, the alleged conduct on the part of Apple amounts to a breach of the company’s Media Services Terms and Conditions, wherein it’s stated that Apple will only prevent a consumer from making new purchases and updating their apps should a payment method become invalid. 

“In fact,” the complaint says, “no part of the Apple Agreement allows Defendant to unilaterally seize, without a court order or any type of due process to consumers, all Digital Content and Apps owned by Apple customers whose payment method becomes invalid at any point in time.” 

As the suit tells it, the law is clear that a creditor may not seize any assets to satisfy a debt without a legal right to do so, or without a court order if a debt is unsecured. The case claims Apple was required to obtain a court order before seizing any customer’s digital content and apps “since it is, without a doubt, an unsecured creditor.” 

Moreover, Apple, “to add insult to injury,” the case says, will seize even the content that triggered a debt, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges Apple essentially tries to collect on a debt for which the debtor “received no property or benefit,” making the apparent debt illusory in nature. 

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons in Massachusetts whose digital content and/or apps purchased from Apple were seized for any period of time due to the company’s determination that the individual’s payment method was invalid.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.