The class action lawsuit that alleges Nintendo had sold faulty Joy-Con controllers hits another cog as the judge has ruled against Nintendo's wish to dismiss the case entirely. This similar ruling occurred back in March of 2020 when US District Judge Thomas S. Zilly approved Nintendo’s move to compel arbitration, but rejected the platform holder’s bid to dismiss.

In the case filed by Zachary Vergara, claimer of the suit, reports that the Joy-Con drift issues “causes the joystick to activate or drift on its own without the user actually manipulating the joystick.” This has been a longstanding problem with Nintendo's device since October of 2019. 

As reported by NintendoLife, Judge Gary Feinerman has ruled in Nintendo's favor, but they aren't quite out of the woods just yet, as it was dropped due to an odd loophole. The ruling declares that the lawsuit would have to go through an arbitrator, but that doesn't necessarily mean the case has to be arbitrated. The arbitrator has to determine if the end-user license agreement qualifies enough as consent on Nintendo's side.

 Feinerman ruled that Vergara must (in Nintendo Life’s words) “ask an arbitrator whether his alleged claims belong in court, or if they’re actually subject to an arbitration clause in an end-user agreement Vergara will have agreed to when he first purchased the Switch itself.”

While the purpose of arbitration is to see if a settlement can be handled out of court, Vergara could bring it back into the courts, should the arbitrator determine if the case claims aren't subject to arbitration. In the meantime, the case will remain pending until the arbitration resolution.