Apple dodges class action lawsuit over iCloud’s 5GB free tier and more

Chance Miller | Dec 6 2024 - 8:52 am PT

A multi-year attempt to establish a class action lawsuit against Apple over iCloud storage has officially been dismissed.

In a new court filing this week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit tossed out the lawsuit and said the plaintiffs failed to make their case.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs made multiple allegations about iCloud and Apple’s upgrade tactics. They alleged that Apple tries to trick the public into thinking they must pay for iCloud storage. The plaintiffs also accused Apple of unfair competition practices, breach of contract, fraud, and more.

The primary allegation was that Apple “deceives customers into paying for its iCloud data storage service by falsely representing that it is possible for users to reduce their storage and remain within iCloud’s free 5 GB storage plan.”

In a new court filing this week, spotted by Law360, the Ninth Circuit rebuffed those claims. A district court dismissed the lawsuit in May 2022, and the plaintiffs then appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the filing this week, the appeals court ruled that the district court “correctly dismissed” the case.

From this week’s filing:

Plaintiffs also failed to plead an actionable misrepresentation. By the allegations of the third amended complaint, Apple made no representations that it would assist consumers in managing their data to stay under the 5 GB limit for free iCloud storage. While Apple did represent that users could reduce their iCloud storage, plaintiffs have failed to allege facts showing that it is “virtually impossible” for them to reduce their storage.

As for the plaintiffs’ attempts to argue breach of contract:

The district court correctly dismissed the breach of contract claim. Plaintiffs argue that Apple’s Terms & Conditions and an Apple email warning users that they are approaching the free 5 GB limit contain enforceable promises that users can reduce their data storage below 5 GB to avoid paying for iCloud, or to downgrade to the free plan from a paid tier.

But the statements plaintiffs point to contain no enforceable promises and instead are merely informational. And even if these statements constituted enforceable promises, plaintiffs have not alleged facts showing that these promises were breached. As discussed above, plaintiffs have not adequately alleged that it is impossible to reduce data and to downgrade to the free 5 GB plan.

The plaintiffs in the case were “granted three opportunities to amend” their case to address the shortcomings called out by the district court. The court then dismissed the case as it became “clear that the complaint could not be saved by amendment.”

Apple, however, is still battling a separate class action lawsuit over iCloud’s 5GB free tier and other restrictions related to iPhone backup. That case is being led by the Hagens Berman law firm, which is the same law firm behind many different class action lawsuits against Apple. Most notably, the firm handled the $560 million class action Apple Books price-fixing lawsuit against Apple.

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