If I were to buy a three-pack of color ink for my inkjet printer today, it would cost me $42.99 at HP.com and $36.99 at Amazon.com. That's not a big deal—unless HP is trying to settle a class action by giving class members $2 coupons that can only be used at HP.com (and can't be transferred or stacked, and expire in six months). And even if the coupon was larger (some class members get $7 coupons) HP makes much more money selling ink at HP.com than at Amazon.com, all else being equal: this is a marketing program for them. And the attorneys are claiming that they're entitled to $2.9 million for such a lame settlement because the coupons are "worth" $5 million. And even if one attributed full face value to the coupons (which the parties try mightily hard to not call coupons), I strongly suspect far less than $5 million of coupons will be claimed or redeemed.
The Center filed an objection today in the Northern District of California. Kabateck Brown Kellner, who we've seen before in the $0 AOL settlement and the $117k Classmates.com settlement, are among the lead attorneys in this ripoff as well.
Objections are due January 3. If you're a class member (and most people who purchased HP inkjet printers in the last nine years are, and there are tens of millions of them out there), you can file a claim or object at the settlement website; this settlement nicely permits emails if you prefer objecting that way.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Objection in Ercoline v. Unilever (Breyers Smooth & Dreamy) class action
We had to mail it to the court rather than electronically file it so it may not immediately show up in the docket, but today the District of New Jersey will receive my objection to the $0 settlement in Ercoline v. Unilever, No. 10-cv-1747. Earlier.
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