London man wins 12-month legal battle against Apple over deleted honeymoon photos

A British pensioner has been awarded £2,000 after an Apple employee accidentally deleted honeymoon photos from his iPhone at the company's flagship Regent Street store in London. The legal battle between David and Goliath took nearly 12 months, but represented a "monumental" victory for the "common man".

Deric White, a 68-year-old property developer from Pimlico, London, began his legal challenge against Apple in December 2014. He had visited the Regent Street store with his faulty iPhone and left it with staff for 20 minutes while they investigated the problem.

On returning home with the repaired phone, White noticed that photos and videos from his honeymoon in the Seychelles earlier that year had disappeared. Also missing were photos from an earlier African safari trip, all of his contacts, and photos of medics who looked after him during his successful 10-month battle with cancer of the oesophagus.

Representing himself and appearing in court with no lawyer, White initially sued Apple for £5,000, the cost of a second honeymoon, but after the year-long battle he was awarded £1,200 in compensation and a further £800 in costs, which he says he will put towards a trip to Cornwall.

'You can't take on Apple'

But it wasn't the financial gain which is important to White. "It's not so much the money that I have won, but it's the moral victory. Apple is just an enormous conglomerate and everyone said you can't win this, they said you can't take on Apple."

Speaking of his legal victory over a company with over £130bn in the bank, White said: "It's absolutely fabulous, it's a monumental victory." He claimed Apple has remained "intransigent" over the 12-month ordeal, and didn't offer any compensation until the judge at Central London County Court ruled in White's favour.

A win for the common man

"I would not let go," White told the Evening Standard. "Having fought cancer, I was not going to get defeated by Apple. My wife was reduced to tears when they wiped my phone. Everyone tells me this has happened to them or their mate. I did this for the common man. I would say to anybody who has got a gripe with Apple - don't let them boss you about and ignore you. Other people should be inspired - you can't keep getting trod on by corporations coming at you with Ts and Cs."