BlackBerry Users in the U.S. & Canada Sue RIM Over Service Disruption

Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry, is probably hoping that the multi-day service outages experienced around the world earlier in October will become a distant memory. But for consumers dependent on the service, they aren't letting them off the hook that easily, especially since the only compensation they've been offered is $100 worth of free apps.

Earlier this month, the BlackBerry service experienced a three-day outage both in the U.S. and around the world. The glitch interupted emails, internet, and instant messaging systems on the mobile phones. Consequently, RIM's co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, were left issuing numerous apologies.

In the U.S., American BlackBerry customers brought a lawsuit in California on Thursday on behalf of anyone in the U.S. who had an "active service agreement" with RIM at the time of the disruption. According to court documents, they are suing for breach of contract, negligence and unjust enrichment.

Similarly, a case was brought before a court in Quebec on behalf of all Canadian customers with an active service agreement. In this case, RIM is accused of failing to compensate BlackBerry customers with a monetary refund for loss of service. The complainants in this case say that RIM must "take full responsibility for these damages."