Microsoft Faces Multi-Billion Lawsuit Over Lost Data And Damaged PCs Due To Windows 10 Upgrade

Microsoft's Windows 10 allegedly caused damage and data loss to three users, resulting in a multi-billion lawsuit filed against the company. The lawsuit, filed in Chicago's District Court by the three affected users, claimed that the tech company failed to exercise reasonable care in designing, formulating and manufacturing the operating system's (Windows 10) upgrade and placing into the stream of commerce.

The software, according to the complainants, is defective and there was no indication nor details about potential risks on installing the update release by the company. They argue that due to the missing warnings, Microsoft failed to exercise reasonable care to the users, and proceed to distribute an operating system that was liable to cause damage to hardware as well as loss of data.

The lawyer who represents the three complainants also allege that hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by the problems from the Windows 10 upgrade. The team is seeking for the case to be certified as a class action suit - which includes every US person who suffered data loss or damage due to the software upgrade from Windows 7 within 30 days.

The complaint also highlights issues with the upgrade process, claiming it "often installs itself without any action being taken by the consumer." Microsoft reportedly dismissed the claims as "without merit". According to the company, the operating system (Windows 10) is a free upgrade and is an option designed to help users take advantage of the most productive and secure Windows.

The company also stated that users had the option not to upgrade to Windows 10. It argues that should a customer (user) who had upgraded the operating system during the one year program needed help, the company provide numerous assistance such as free customer support, as well as 31-days to roll back to their old version of Windows.  

This was not the first lawsuit filed against Microsoft regarding Windows 10. In June 2016, a California woman won $10,000 (£8,000) after her PC was disabled when she installed a Windows 10 update.