Amid several lawsuits regarding the iPhone battery, Apple has moved one of the cases to a federal court in an effort to level the playing field against impending legal actions.

On Friday, Jose Trujillo's pioneering suit against Apple was taken from its home setting in Cook County, Illinois to a federal institution in the northern district of Illinois. The suit alleges that Apple and AT&T concealed the need to replace the iPhone's battery every year while locking its customers into a two-year contract.

According to AppleInsider, Apple was able to shift the suit's location under a recent but increasingly used law known as the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, or CAFA. Under this law, any suit wherein the defendants are based in a different state from the plaintiff and the damages would total over US$5 million, can be moved to a federal court level.

A cautious estimate of the Trujillo complaint has placed potential damages at more than US$17 million and force replacement of at least 200,000 four gigabyte iPhones and their battery replacement bills.

The CAFA law would allow Apple to transfer the suit to a different court without any input from the plaintiff. Although this seems one-sided to casual observers, the law is designed to remove potential biases in judgement that might stem from a defendant's home territory should a suit go to trial.

AT&T has yet to officially comment on the decision, although its involvement isn't required under CAFA, which allows any defendant to remove a case sans the agreement of any other companies named in the suit.

"Apple disputes [the] Plaintiff's allegations, believes the Complaint lacks merit, and denies that [the] Plaintiff or the putative class have been harmed in any way," the company's lawyers said.

What's your take on this? Let us know in the comments or forums.