lol, I'm rich!!

[Gumby]

I was part of a class action lawsuit involving my Honda Civic Hybrid. I got a check for $500 plus two certificates for a $500 rebate on the purchase of a brand new Honda. I was able to sell the two certificates to people who could use them for half price. So I got $1000 cash in total.

 

[audreyh1]

Class action suits are a way to stop behavior that otherwise would continue unabated, and often the only option for consumers. The benefit is the settlement together with the change in business practice.

Exactly!!! Stopping the shady business practice can benefit all consumers.

 

[mystang52]

Exactly!!! Stopping the shady business practice can benefit all consumers.

Notwithstanding that both of my kids are lawyers, I only agree with this in principle. At some point a degree of fairness needs to tamper the fees in these cases. When each injured plaintiff (no matter the degree of financial injury) receives mere cents while the attorney makes huge sum, something is out of kilter.
The attorney is entitled to a reasonable fee. And in many of these class actions the number of plaintiffs in the class are so numerous that even a reduced attorney fee might only result in a truly nominal increase that the individual receives. Nevertheless, some sort of statutory limit on fees would potentially limit the silly class action suits.
Like others here I've received an occasional paltry settlement (I currently have $0.38 credit on my Barnes and Noble account). But I also recall that a number of times the supposed injury was not caused by a malicious act, in the first place. I have a problem, philosophically, with tying up judicial resources for human error class action lawsuits.

 

[Gumby]

Notwithstanding that both of my kids are lawyers, I only agree with this in principle. At some point a degree of fairness needs to tamper the fees in these cases. When each injured plaintiff (no matter the degree of financial injury) receives mere cents while the attorney makes huge sum, something is out of kilter.
The attorney is entitled to a reasonable fee. And in many of these class actions the number of plaintiffs in the class are so numerous that even a reduced attorney fee might only result in a truly nominal increase that the individual receives. Nevertheless, some sort of statutory limit on fees would potentially limit the silly class action suits.
Like others here I've received an occasional paltry settlement (I currently have $0.38 credit on my Barnes and Noble account). But I also recall that a number of times the supposed injury was not caused by a malicious act, in the first place. I have a problem, philosophically, with tying up judicial resources for human error class action lawsuits.

If the credit in your B&N account is from the ebooks price fixing settlement, it will expire at midnight tonight if you don't use it.

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

I filed with a class action lawsuit on diamond monopoly maybe 15 years ago for my wedding ring and earrings bought 35 and 25 YEARS ago, and followed the lawsuit occasionally over the years. I finally got my settlement check this week. Ten bucks! Ten bucks, gosh how will I spend it!?!?!?!

 

[limeyx]

I just got back ten bucks from the class action suit for overcharging for diamonds. And I thought that was paltry.

I got that too !

 

[Zorwarrior]

Congrats on hitting the big time. I hope you enjoy your retirement years.

 

[travelover]

Be sure to pay taxes on it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Be sure to pay taxes on it.

Of course.

After that, I wonder if she's going to do S&P index, or pssttt... Wellesley.

 

[GravitySucks]

So anyone remember those coinstar machines that were everywhere a few years back? well evidently a few banks including mine (TD bank) were sued because the machines were not counting correctly.
I just got my class action suit payment, a grand total of.......

26 cents. It's all mine

I'll invest that for you at 1% per annum. Better deal than Fisher.
(Love the old Bugs Bunny)

 

[jeeper]

I'd have to ask myself "How are they screwing me over?"

 

[Bimmerbill]

I just got my $10 diamond settlement check so I am in the money as well.

 

[JoeWras]

GM Ignition Switch Class Action has paid out

I figured I'd resurrect this thread since it is about class actions.

I just got a $73.07 payout! My second best class action payout ever.

This was for the GM ignition switch class action. I completely forgot I sent in the paperwork, it was submitted years ago and I haven't had the car for over 8 years. Payouts were from $48.72 to $146.15.

My payout doesn't cover the cost of my repair, which was about $300. But it was something.

At least the payout wasn't a discount on a new car and instead was cash.

 

[street]

^ interesting! Always fun to have a pocket full of money, and not having to work for it.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

^ interesting! Always fun to have a pocket full of money, and not having to work for it.

We call that "Not money".

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Sometime after I left Maine more than a dozen years ago I was sent a check for $20 from some class action suit I had forgotten about. I found it when I checked the state's unclaimed funds database on a whim last year. Yowee, free money! But when I signed up to get it they required that I upload a scan of a recent bill from my current location to verify my identification. Turns out the scan would *not* go through, no matter what I tried. So, I gave up. It just wasn't enough to continue to bother.

-BB

 

[Andre1969]

Years ago, we got a voucher for owning one of GM's infamous "saddle-tank" trucks. This one was a 1985 C10 Silverado. Of course, it was made "infamous", thanks to Dateline NBC, who put explosive model rockets under a fuel tank and set it to blow in a staged crash.

Now yeah, the trucks would blow up in an accident. If you hit them hard enough. But, it actually took a very serious accident. They didn't blow up like a Pinto would...and even a Pinto wasn't nearly as explosion-prone as Mother Jones would like you to believe.

Anyway, I remember the voucher was for $1000 off the purchase price, if we bought a new GM vehicle within a certain amount of time. Then it dropped to $500, and I think it then dropped to $250, and eventually expired. I can't remember if part of the stipulation was trading in the old truck or not. But, at the time, GM had nothing that was enticing enough to make us fork over a bunch of money for a new vehicle, just to get $1000 off.

I can't remember when the Dateline fiasco was exactly...I want to say 1993? Anyway, while the truck was exonerated, I thought it was actually pretty nice of GM to offer that voucher, even though we never used it. I wonder if very many people actually used those vouchers?

 

[MRG]

I've never had anything worth more than 27 cents.

A couple years ago a former coworker told me that I needed to sign up for a suite involving Megacorp's handling of a profit sharing account I had left behind to allow penalty free withdrawal from 55-59.5. During this time the fund dropped big time, over 25% by my memory.

I said no thanks until she told me the former CEO, CFO, and other senior management were present in the meeting she attended. This February I received a 10k settlement from the fund company and still have an arbitration against Megacorp for their lack of fiduciary oversight. Hopefully they make me whole. Sadly several hundred people will receive the lion's share of any monies and 10k people will get 47 dollars apiece.

 

[wmc1000]

Our biggest win was from a 1999 Kia Sportage that my youngest DD drove. One winter day I pulled into the driveway and noticed that the gas tank had a slow drip due to rust! Took it to my local mechanic who looked at it and said to go to a dealer because there was a possible warranty issue on some models.

Of course the dealer input the vehicle info and said it wouldn't be covered and cost $1200 to replace. Fast forward a year or so later and we got a notice in the mail that the warranted vehicles to be covered had been extended if we can provide proof of replacement.

Sent in a copy of the invoice for the repair and got a letter back from Kia that it didn't show the reason for the replacement was due to a rust issue!

Called the dealer and relayed the info and was told they would get back to me. Later that day I received a call from the dealer that the service mechanic who worked on our car had added the rust info to the back on the invoice and they faxed a copy to me.

I mailed it to Kia and about 60 days later we got a $1200 check in the mail! Whoo Hoo we were rich!

 

[Time2]

Save it and frame it.

I received an Army payroll check for "exactly 2 cents" back in the '80s after they reconciled some travel and allowance discrepancies

It's under glass along side my commission. I just couldn't bring myself to cash it.
_B

You, are exactly why the government can't get the books to balance!

 

[braumeister]

I received an Army payroll check for "exactly 2 cents" back in the '80s after they reconciled some travel and allowance discrepancies

I once ordered something from J.C. Whitney (car parts) and there was some confusion related to the shipping cost or tax (I forget which).

The next month they sent me a bill for $0.00 so I laughed and ignored it.

Got the same invoice for the next two months, and the last one came with a letter warning me that if it wasn't paid they would send it to a collection agency.

I gave up and mailed them a check for $0.00 and never heard from them again. Only cost me a stamp, but shows how things could slip through the cracks back in the early days of billing computers.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Save it and frame it.

I received an Army payroll check for "exactly 2 cents" back in the '80s after they reconciled some travel and allowance discrepancies

It's under glass along side my commission. I just couldn't bring myself to cash it. A lot of laughs along the way.

_B

Are you sure that wasn't a very clever request for you to comment on your experience?

-BB

 

[Turbo29]

I actually had one class action pay off. Owned a VW diesel that was part of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. For a 9yr old vehicle worth about $8000 I got $14400 (blue book value at the time the scandal hit plus $5k for being defrauded). Then a few months later a check for $1000 from Bosch (injection system manufacturer) and then a few months after that a check for $600 (my state's Atty. General sued them).

I was shocked. I figured that when the lawyers were done I'd get nothing but a coupon for free floor mats.

 

[Luvtoride]

Earlier this year I joined a class action suit for customers who bought contact lenses from an online contact lens site (very reputable and still around). It was easy to sign up and I didn't even need to provide my prior receipts.
In August I got an email that asked for my Venmo user name as settlement was going to be deposited shortly.
In early September, my Venmo account was credited with $214 by the class action name as my settlement payment for this suit. I was shocked!

 

[SecondCor521]

I'm waiting on my Blue Cross / Blue Shield settlement money before I plan my next trip to Monaco.

Other than that, I guess I'm technically in a small class action suit. A company I used to work for was cash strapped so offered to pay me in company stock. Lo and behold, the company got acquired years later, and I got paid about 2x for my shares (which qualified for Section 1202 treatment!) Even later, there was apparently some misbehavior on the part of the acquiring company, so we former shareholders are suing them. It's supposed to go to trial next year unless a settlement can be reached. I'll probably get somewhere between 1 cent and $15K.