U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Microsoft Appeal In Xbox Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether Microsoft must face a class action lawsuit by owners of the Xbox 360 video-game system who say their optical disc drives scratched game disks. The court will review a March 2015 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the question of whether a lower court decision denying class certification to the plaintiffs could be challenged.
Xbox 360 owners have claimed that the console's optical disc drive cannot withstand even small vibrations. They said this causes game discs to spin out of control and become scratched even under normal playing conditions, rendering them unplayable.
Microsoft said class certification was improper because just 0.4 percent of Xbox owners reported disc scratches, and that misuse was the cause.
In 2012, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in Seattle dismissed the class action claims, ruling there were not enough complaints to justify a class action. But a federal appeals court reversed, saying it could go forward.