Apple pays English council £385million after five-year iPhone row

APPLE has agreed to pay £385million to an English council after a five-year iPhone row.

Tech giant’s boss Tim Crook has been embroiled in a lawsuit led by a local authority in East Anglia.

Reuters

Apple has been embroiled in a giant lawsuit with Norfolk Council[/caption]

The legal action alleged Apple‘s CEO defrauded shareholders by covering up demand for iPhones in China.

Norfolk Council alleged that Mr. Cook’s actions led to financial losses for a pension fund under its administration.

In a statement, the local authority said it was “very proud of this recovery for investors.”

The Norfolk Pension Fund said the decision was a triumph for investors as countless of families relied upon the pensions.

The statement read: “We are mindful that we are stewards of pensions relied upon by thousands of families and individuals.

“When and where it’s warranted, we will take decisive action to recover losses when our participants’ investments are harmed by fraud.”

The lawsuit, named class action, was on behalf of a group of claimants affected by the company.

At the heart of the legal battle were comments made by Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook.

He assured investors in November 2018 that there were “sales pressure” in certain regions but he “wouldn’t put China in that category”.

However, Apple slashed its quarterly revenue forecast just two months later.

It cited escalating tensions between China and the US – which caused a dramatic plummet in the company’s stock value.

At the time, reports suggested that Apple had told its primary smartphone assemblers to “halt plans for additional production lines” for the iPhone XR.

Investors claimed they felt misled by Crook’s assurances and to have suffered financial losses.

They then filed for a class action lawsuit initially brought against Apple by the US city of Roseville.

However, Norfolk Council took over the legal action as lead plaintiff in 2020.

Although Apple fought the litigation, a trial was scheduled for later this year.

A preliminary settlement was filed last Friday with the US District Court in California – but it still requires approval by a judge.

Although the exact portion of the settlement to Norfolk County Council remains unknown, the pay-out amounts to under two days of profit for the wealthy company.

The Sun Online has approached Apple for comment.

It comes as millions of British iPhone owners could receive a cut of an £853million lawsuit that alleges Apple intentionally slowed down devices to mask a battery flaw.

Consumer champion Justin Gutmann, who has taken Apple to court, claims the company failed to inform users that software updates would hurt the performance of their device.