Wii Straps Result In Class Action Lawsuit

The replacement offer for "faulty" Wii Straps has been widely perceived to be the result of some necessary ass-covering on the part of Nintendo, aimed at heading off any potential lawsuits that may arise as a result of a Wii Remote injury. What's been kept strangely hush-hush is the fact that a class action lawsuit has already been filed.

Green Welling LLP filed a nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of the owners of the Nintendo Wii against Nintendo of America, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The class action lawsuit arose as result of the defective nature of the Nintendo Wii. In particular, the Nintendo Wii game console includes a remote and a wrist strap for the remote. Owners of the Nintendo Wii reported that when they used the Nintendo remote and wrist strap, as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console, the wrist strap broke and caused the remote to leave the user's hand. Nintendo's failure to include a remote that is free from defects is in breach of Nintendo's own product warranty.

The class action lawsuit seeks to enjoin Nintendo from continuing its unfair or deceptive business practices as it relates to the Nintendo Wii.The lawsuit also seeks an injunction that requires Nintendo to correct the defect in the Wii remote and to provide a refund to the purchaser or to replace the defective Wii remote with a Wii remote that functions as it is warranted and intended.

Looks pretty trivial to me, to the point where this may not even be the driving force behind the replacement program. I'm no lawyer, but I do know that nowhere in the "material that accompanied the Wii console" was anyone "instructed" to act like a complete and utter spaz. Luke Plunkett

Defective Nintendo Wii wrist strap for the Nintendo game console [Green Welling LLP]

Ed's Note: As you legal types probably know, a class action aint a class action until a judge says it is, no matter how hard the lawyers wish.

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.