In a unanimous ruling, the court agreed with objector Theodore Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness that Ware -- who is now retired, so another judge will reconsider the award -- "rubber-stamped" a deal that "structured to obscure actual relief" through Apple's agreement in advance to pay the suing legal firms up to $3 million of the award in attorney's fees and $100,000 in expenses, which the court said "cannot relieve the district court of its duty to assess fully the reasonableness of the fee request."

The Center for Class Action Fairness, in its objection, noted that the settlement seemed designed to discourage consumers from actually collecting anything. While Apple had electronic records of MacBook purchasers who had replaced their power supplies and most of the procedures were online, the lawyers required their clients to submit refund forms in writing.