Class Action Suit Seeks $5 Mln for Cracked Kindles

A class action suit filed in Seattle seeks $5 million in damages for cracks in Kindle screens allegedly caused by an optional $30 protective cover.

In a trend that would sound eerily familiar to the maker of any electronic gadget, Amazon.com now finds itself as the target of a class action lawsuit over its popular portable device, the Kindle electronic reader. The suite, filed in Seattle by one Matthew Geise, alleges a $30 optional protective cover designed to protect the e-reader’s screen actually damages the display, causing it to crack and, eventually, doing in the Kindle altogether. The suit seeks to cover buyers of both the newer Kindle 2 and Kindle DX as well as the original Kindle, and claims damages from the matter surpass $5 million.

The optional protective case for the Kindle attaches to the Kindle’s plastic body with metal clips. According to the suit (and numerous complaints in Amazon’s customer support forums), the cover introduces cracking on the display near where the clips attach to the Kindle. In Geise’s case, the cracks appeared three months after purchasing the Kindle for his wife; over the next two months, the cracks grew substantially, then the screen failed and the device become unusable.

According to Geise, Amazon offered to replace the screen under warranty, but claimed the cracks were due to users opening the cover “backward,” leaving Geise with a $200 repair bill for his $359 gadget. Geise’s wife claims she never opened the cover backwards.