A lawyer who brings a lawsuit predicated on his own stupidity is a rare, beautiful, courageous creature. It’s one thing to represent with a straight face someone who tried to make out with an industrial fan, and another to admit that you personally couldn’t master simple technology. It’s also a bold move for a partner in a law firm to admit that he’s bringing a lawsuit over losing ONE FRIGGING DOLLAR on his mistake.
That’s why this guy deserves some credit for being so comfortable publicly admitting what no one else would…
This is the tale of Scott Weiselberg, a partner at Kopelowitz Ostrow, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. According to the complaint, Weiselberg admits to one more embarrassing personal decision by alleging that he decided to rent the Adam Sandler film, Big Daddy
And that’s when Apple “confused” Weiselberg:
According to the filing, Weiselberg rented and downloaded the high definition version of the movie “Big Daddy,” before discovering that his iPhone did not support HD playback. HD content is often offered at a premium in the App Store, and Weiselberg says that he was “tricked” into paying an extra $1 for the content.
Remember that Apple cleaned up on the download market because it’s the most user-friendly platform around. Weiselberg alleges that he botched an almost idiot-proof interface. Indeed, the HD and Standard Definition options are clearly marked on iTunes. To this, Weiselberg argues that he was unaware that his iPhone was incapable of showing an HD image. It was one of the most reported drawbacks of that generation of iPhones, but Weiselberg doesn’t think he should be responsible for attaining a basic understanding of his own consumer electronics.
The alleged harm that Weiselberg suffered, besides having to watch Big Daddy, was the additional $1 he expended for an HD copy of the movie that played in standard definition. Remember, he’s complaining about picture quality for a movie he’s watching on a 3.5-inch screen, so he’s not exactly a cinematic connoisseur. A lawsuit for $1 in damages is not going to get very far, so this is a class action alleging that Apple made “millions of dollars in undeserved profits.”
No, Scott. There weren’t millions of people dumb enough to make the same mistake you did.
I note that Weiselberg’s attorney, Richard L. Kellner, is not a fellow Kopelowitz partner, presumably because the Kopelowitz firm found this case as embarrassing as the rest of us.
Let’s just hope the lawyer he did hire isn’t working on contingency, because that’s the only move dumber than being unable to figure out iTunes.
