Apple found themselves in hot water on Tuesday after a class action lawsuit was filed in California on behalf of disgruntled iPad owners Jacob Baltazar, Claudia Keller, and John R. Browning, who claim that the iPad does not live up to Apple’s promises by virtue of overheating issues when used outdoors in direct sunlight.

“Using the iPad is not ‘just like a reading book’ at all since books do not close when the reader is enjoying them in the sunlight or in other normal environmental environments,” the suit claims in part.  “The iPad overheats so quickly under common weather conditions that it does not function for prolonged use either indoors, or in many other warm conditions, for a variety of common uses such as, but not necessarily limited to, an e-reader, e-mail tool, Web browser and/or game/entertainment unit.”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if you put a powerful piece of consumer electronics in high ambient heat and further subject it to direct sunlight, that there’s going to be issues with heat dissipation.  What appears to be at issue is Apple’s claim that the iPad reads “just like a book.” Books obviously aren’t known to shut down after a few minutes of use when exposed to direct sunlight.

One wonders, of course, whether these claims are truly legitimate, or if some enterprising lawyer just happened to notice the language used by Apple and saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. More than the heat issues even, the iPad is almost totally non-functional in direct sun because of the havoc that glare plays on its screen. Granted, there are third-party solutions in the form of screen covers to address that particular issue, but it’s clear after just minutes of use that the iPad is not a device that performs at its best out of doors.

If the suit is granted class status, it will mean that any iPad owner can seek part of the monetary remuneration if it is successful. It should be interesting to see how Apple handles this one.