BlackBerry Pearls have ultra-sensitive trackballs that, when bumped, trigger the devices to automatically redial numbers in their memories, causing owners to use up their minutes on unwitting phone calls, a class action claims in Cook County Court. Another unpleasant side effect of the BlackBerry Pearl defect, the lawsuit claims, is that recipients of involuntary calls are sometimes privy to a caller's private, confidential conversations.

Lead plaintiff Richard Wu, who says his phone made several calls on his behalf while he was in China, claims he reported the defect to T-Mobile, but the company only placated him with a few $5 credits.

T-Mobile allegedly acknowledged the glitch and said it was working on a solution, but has yet to remedy the problem.

Wu claims the company denied his request for a replacement BlackBerry and suggested he buy a phone cover, on his own dime, to prevent the trackball from touching other objects.

Plaintiff Kevin Young Rhee said he had the same problem with the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 he bought from Sprint Nextel.

The lawsuit seeks to put a stop to the sale of BlackBerry Pearl until the defect has been fixed. The plaintiffs also request actual and punitive damages. They are represented by Liu & Xu.

Google overcharges customers of its AdWords program by charging them for ads placed on "low quality parked domain and error page Web sites," a class action claims in Federal Court. Ninety-nine percent of Google's $16.6 billion revenue in 2007 came from advertising, says named plaintiff Hal Levitte, who advertised his Boston law office through Google.

Levitte adds, "Google marketed AdWords by emphasizing the high quality of sites on which AdWords ads will be placed, and did not disclose Google's practice of placing ads on parked domains and error pages."

Levitte claims more than 16 percent of the clicks he paid for were from parked domains and error pages, from which he received no benefit.

When he demanded a refund for those charges, he says, Google replied that "the clicks you have been charged for appear to fit a pattern of normal activity."

Levitte demands restitution, disgorgement and special damages. He is represented by Robert Schubert.