iPhone 4 owner sues Apple over cracked glass case

iPhone 4 owner Donald LeBuhn filed a class action lawsuit against Apple early this week, claiming the company is misleading customers about the strength of the glass casing on the iPhone 4. LeBuhn is asking that Apple reimburse the plaintiffs in the case for the cost of the phone and any repairs.

LeBuhn said that his main problem with Apple is that it markets the glass as being super-durable and scratch-resistant -- a claim he says his personal experience disproves.

Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit; we'll let you know if it does.

The lawsuit, reported by the LAWeekly, focuses on how the iPhone's glass housing handles when the phone is dropped without a case. LeBuhn said his iPhone shattered when his daughter dropped it from a height of about three feet while sending a text message.

"Months after selling millions of iPhone 4s, Apple has failed to warn and continues to sell this product with no warning to customers that the glass housing is defective," LeBuhn wrote in the lawsuit.

This is the second big stink raised about shattered glass on the iPhone 4. In October, complaints surfaced that small pieces of matter that got trapped in iPhone 4 sliding cases made the iPhone 4 more prone to cracking. Reports of the problem became so widespread that the tech press dubbed it "Glassgate," and a research firm called SquareTech released figures that the latest model of the iPhone broke 82 percent more often than the iPhone 3GS.

Apple reporter Johnny Evans called those claims into question when they surfaced in October, saying that the numbers were reported in a way that made them seem more significant than they were.

"Described as '82 percent' of course this sounds like a big deal, but in reality it means 3.9 percent of 20,000 iPhone 4 owners reported a cracked screen rather than 2.1 percent of 20,000 iPhone 3GS owners," he wrote.

Glassgate, unlike its predecessor Antennagate, never came to very much, as the problem was not nearly as widespread. With this lawsuit, however, more people may come forward with casing issues.

Sound off: Have you had trouble with the casing on your iPhone 4?

Posted in: