The 2019 class action lawsuit accusing Nintendo of knowingly selling defective Nintendo Switch controllers was moved into arbitration, for the time being pushing the dispute between Nintendo and disgruntled clients out of court.
The district judge presiding over the case agrees with Nintendo ‘s argument that purchasing a Nintendo Switch locks clients into a binding arbitration arrangement with Nintendo, according to a Top Class Actions report found by the folks at ResetEra.
Those behind the Joy-Con drift class action originally argued that the arbitration arrangement was invalidated under California law but eventually the judge ruled that the arrangement was legitimate even under that statute because it did not preclude clients from obtaining injunctive relief.
The judge denied Nintendo ‘s offer to have the entire case dismissed, despite siding with Nintendo on the motion for arbitration. Rather, the class action is practically on hold as
the sides meet outside the courts to settle the conflict. The outcome of those arbitration talks is to be returned to court by 31 December 2020 or within 14 days of the conclusion of the process.
The whole controversy kicked off last summer when news came to light about an apparently widespread problem with Joy-Con controllers from Nintendo Switch. The alleged defect allows joysticks to register feedback when left unused on the Switch’s detachable controls, a problem Switch owners say is experienced in all new, used, and even Nintendo-repaired Joy-Con. The class action accused Nontendo of deliberately continuing to sell faulty controllers long after the company’s attention was drawn to the defect.
After the issue picked up momentum that July, Nintendo allegedly agreed to give free Joy-Con fixes to those with drift issues, but the initiative did not slow down the class action litigation, which was later extended to include the joysticks on the all-in-one Switch Lite handheld months later.
