Nintendo receives Joy-Con class-action lawsuit filed by a Quebec law firm

On January 15th, Lambert Avocat Inc. filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo, according to a post on their Facebook page. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for consumers who have encountered manufacturing defects on their Nintendo Switch controllers, such as the Joy-Con and Pro Controllers. The issue of drift has also been seen in the smaller Nintendo Switch Lite. The Quebec-based firm believes that Nintendo's continued sale of defective controllers violates the Consumer Protection Act, which entitles a consumer to expect a product to meet quality standards upon their purchase.

This is one of several class-action lawsuits filed against Nintendo for the issue, with the first being filed in 2019. Since then, Nintendo has offered free repairs of defective controllers and systems in select countries. Nintendo's executives have also given comments on the issue, with Nintendo president Shintaro Furukawa apologizing for the issue (via Kotaku), and Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser explaining to Polygon in an interview that the company was paying close attention to the hardware being sent in for repairs, to make future improvements.

However, no improvements have been seen in the console's lifetime, despite hardware revisions and the release of a Switch Lite system. In the meantime, consumers whose countries are not covered by free repairs are left with no choice but to either fix Joy-con drift themselves or buy a new pair. Those looking to join the class-action lawsuit by Lambert Avocat Inc can visit their website.