On January 4th, the Gibson Law Firm filed a class action suit against Microsoft in response to the interruptions and glitches suffered by Xbox Live for the past several weeks.
The suit, filed by complainants Shannon Smith, Keith Kay, and Orlando Perez on behalf of all Xbox Live subscribers, accuses Microsoft of breach of contract, breach of warranty, and negligent misrepresentation.
The breach of contract claim stems from the idea that Xbox Live subscribers have paid for a service that Microsoft has failed to provide as Live's connectivity has been spotty at best since the holidays. The breach of warranty claim is along the same lines, essentially saying that Microsoft broke an implied warranty when it sold the plaintiffs a product--namely an Xbox Live membership--that didn't work.
The negligent misrepresentation claim is a bit more of a stretch, stating that Microsoft "supplied false information for the guidance of
Plaintiffs, and failed to exercise reasonable care or competence in obtaining or communicating the information." In other words, Microsoft didn't do a good enough job of telling the Plaintiffs that Live might crap out before they bought their subscriptions, and were therefore negligent.
Microsoft has already announced that it will be making amends to subscribers for the problems Live has been having, which may or may not be enough to counter this suit.
