Tag Archives: settlements

AT&T Offers to Settle over Limiting Unlimited Plans, Is Ignored

The limit does not exist

Via AP:  When smartphones first came on the market, telephone companies offered “unlimited” data plans cheaply in an effort to attract users.  Back then, there were so few smartphones, and even fewer users who used more than a couple of gigabytes of data, that advertising these unlimited plans would mean a great many people would buy them without using much data at all.  As smartphones became more ubiquitous and easier-to-use, though, the number of heavy users on unlimited plans rose to the point where they outnumbered regular users, and it was no longer profitable to sustain truly unlimited use.  Then, AT&T did something incredibly boneheaded: they started capping data use for certain unlimited plans.  In a textbook “do not do this” move, AT&T throttled the service for the top 5% of users, or slowed it down until phones were rendered nearly useless for anything other than calls and texts.  This varied by area, too.  The top 5% in New York City would be using a vastly different amount of data than the top 5% in Middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas.  Many customers subsequently sued AT&T for false advertising.  Rightfully so, because I can’t imagine “unlimited” to mean anything other than “not limited at all”.  AT&T has since announced that it will be throttling data at 3GBs/month for all unlimited users, not just the top 5%, which brought up yet another problem: limited users pay $30/month for 3GB of data, the same as so-called “unlimited” plans.  All in all, AT&T’s handling of the affair has been a major clusterwhoops.

Read about one customer’s crusade after the jump:

Theater Company Settles Identity Theft Suit with… Popcorn?

A fresh pile of money

Some quirky news out of Kansas City today.  The Kansas City Business Journal blog reports that Dickinson Theatres Inc. has settled a suit with the promise to pay $1.5 million in popcorn coupons.  You read that correctly.  The lawsuit concerned Dickinson Theatres’ non-compliance with a law requiring companies to truncate debit and credit card information on receipts.  It’s unclear to whom the coupons are going, most likely one each for every debit and credit card customer affected from a certain time period.  I doubt the three named plaintiffs in the suit would find much use for $500,000 worth of popcorn, but you never know.  I know what I’d do: build a swimming pool entirely filled with golden, buttery popcorn and dive into it Scrooge McDuck-style.

Goldman Sachs Settles Million Dollar Overtime Pay Case

Store employees benefit

Goldman Sachs IT employees who worked up to 70-hour weeks without overtime pay have won a settlement against their employer for the sum of $993,841, according to Bloomberg.  More than a hundred contracted computer technicians worked for the banking giant without overtime pay, according to a complaint filed May 2010.  Today, a US District Court judge approved the terms of the settlement, ending a two-year legal dispute.  $262,787 of that will go to the workers’ lawyers.

Workers in Information Technology typically experience a lack of overtime due to it being relatively new field of expertise.  IT work has become increasingly specialized over the last 30 years, and yet employers often do not recognize the vital importance of the job.  Though labor laws vary between states, it is generally illegal for a contracted employee to endure more than 40 hours of labor per week without overtime pay.  However, overtime infractions often go unreported — the threat of total unemployment is more terrifying to workers than the loss of a few hours of overtime pay.  In this case, the extent to which the IT professionals worked overtime was certainly egregious.  Hopefully this settlement will encourage other maligned employees to come forward and claim their rightful pay.

Apple Reaches $375 Million Preliminary Settlement in iPhone 4 Antenna Dispute

Smart phone

In 2010, Apple release its much-hyped iPhone 4, the latest in the succession of popular smart phones.  Early users soon found that the phone suffered poor reception when held normally due to the ill-chosen placement of the phone’s internal antenna.  When notified of the flaw, Apple offered the stale solution of “holding the phone in a different way”.  Users scoffed at the lame response, as reception was only lost when holding the phone in the usual manner, which has been the norm of cell phone usage for decades.  Incensed users brought the company to a class action lawsuit, alleging consumer fraud in that the company misrepresented the device’s ability to function in order to increase sales.

The terms of this settlement apply to any purchaser of the iPhone 4, which early numbers indicate may be 25 million people.  If you are eligible to benefit from this refund, Apple is obligated to contact you via email by April 30th, 2012.  After that, purchasers have 120 days to claim their refund.  If you have not been contacted by April 30th and think you are still eligible, contact Apple’s customer service.

California Property Owner Wins $24 Million Settlement in Development Case

Real property

The Los Angeles Business Journal reports that a Monrovia city property owner has settled a lawsuit with the state government’s Gold Line Construction Authority.  Gold Line was planning to build a maintenance yard for public transportation vehicles during an expansion of light-rail service.  This yard was to be placed on property that George Brokate of Monrovia owned.  Brokate was originally offered $5.6 million by the company, but filed suit to claim more when he realized a similar property owned by the city of Monrovia was given $57 million.  Gold Line insisted the discrepancy was due to a distinction between publicly- and privately-owned land.  Ultimately, Brokate and Gold Line reached a settlement of $24 million, nearly four times the original offer, to cede the property to the state of California.

“Holding out for more” is sometimes a good strategy when dealing with property transactions, especially when the government is involved.  Brokate had in his possession property that was described as “critical” to the expansion plans.  If you ever come to a business deal involving land or property, be sure to know not only how much it is potentially worth, but also how much money similar property has gone for in the past.  Such research definitely helped Mr. Brokate get the big bucks in this settlement.