A class-action status has been granted to a case launched against Apple by an English council on statements made by Tim Cook regarding iPhone demand in China.
Norfolk County Council in the United Kingdom is leading a group of investors who have successfully converted their case against Apple into a class action. In a move that significantly escalates the stakes for the iPhone manufacturer, any aggrieved shareholder may now join the legal action.
On the November 2018 results conference, Cook said that Apple was under “sales pressure” in certain areas. This is the focus of the case. “I wouldn’t put China in that group,” Cook said.
Due to decreased iPhone sales in China in 2019, Apple changed their revenue projection prediction downward. In the eyes of many shareholders, including Norfolk County Council, the updated guideline was too little, too late.
As reported by The Telegraph, the shareholders’ group’s request was granted after they were advised in November 2020 that they may pursue a proposed class-action complaint over allegations that the corporation had disguised declining sales demand.
According to Apple’s legal counsel, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers, the council’s attempts to transform the case into a class action lawsuit were “distortions.”
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Because it manages the Norfolk Pension Fund, which is worth billions of dollars, the Norfolk County Council has a stake. After a year of litigation, the fund’s losses were estimated at close to $1 million.
As a result of the switch to a class action suit, more stockholders will be allowed to join the fight against Apple, but the bar of evidence needed by plaintiffs will also be reduced. The council would not have to prove that it took trading choices as a result of hearing Cook’s analyst call remarks under a “presumption of reliance.”
Apple claims that Cook’s statements were protected since they were only an expression of his own opinion. There is no “actionable false or misleading statement” in the claim.