DRAM owners can claim a minimum refund of $10 in epic $310 million settlement

[ShintaiDK]

Better late than never I guess. The Cartel is to cough up in the US.

http://www.neowin.net/news/dram-own...m-refund-of-10-in-epic-310-million-settlement

Owners of DRAM products can file a claim to get a refund on their purchases once a price-fixing lawsuit worth $310 million against the manufacturers concludes in the latter part of the year.

http://dramclaims.com/

 

[Charlie98]

Gee... $10. Wonder how much the lawyers got...

 

[ShintaiDK]

Gee... $10. Wonder how much the lawyers got...

The minimum is 10$. There is no upper limit as such relatively speaking.

 

[Charlie98]

The minimum is 10$. There is no upper limit as such relatively speaking.

No, I saw that... :sneaky:

 

[KingFatty]

The primary point of class action lawsuits is to punish bad behavior by the bad guy (corporations usually). It is not to compensate the victims.

If your goal is compensation, you may end up better by not joining the class, and pursuing your own claim. It's a tradeoff. But society benefits by class action lawsuits because it keeps the big corporations in check by handing them a very large punishment, instead of trying to encourage each person to do his/her own little papercut by filing his/her own lawsuit. It's just logistically more efficient to get the desired change in behavior by providing a single very large incentive to change.

 

[Doomer]

What sort of documentation do they require? I've boxes of old DRAM but I doubt I could find and receipts or other proof of purchase.

 

[Elixer]

What sort of documentation do they require? I've boxes of old DRAM but I doubt I could find and receipts or other proof of purchase.

That is in their FAQ.

On if you need documentation...

Not with your claim, but it’s possible that the Claims Administrator may request it at a later time, so save any documentation/proof that you may still have.

and if you don't have documentation...

You don’t need any documentation to file your claim. So don’t let that stop you. Only if the Claims Administrator ever asks for documentation will you need to provide it. The Claims Administrator understands the difficulty of maintaining records from more than a decade ago. If the Claims Administrator does request documentation, you can send a letter explaining what proof if any you have of the purchases you’ve claimed and it will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. You can still get paid even if you don’t have any documentation.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

"The court's document mentions that the products in question must be purchased during the period January 1, 1998 through December 31, 2002"

that's gonna be a chore to try and remember everything and come up with documentation to prove it beyond filing a claim. Sounds like they'll be ready to give out $10 for anyone who asks for it, otherwise if you file a larger claim (particularly the volume buyers who might be eligible for the $1000+) you'll definitely need proof

 

[alkemyst]

Gee... $10. Wonder how much the lawyers got...

Usually winning a class action suit like this if by the individual attorney is enough to set them up for much of their retirement or at least make them a solid partner for those looking for a larger retirement package.

Just look at typical divorces where people have no assets yet want to throw $5,000-$10,000 at a lawyer for what ends up being a total of 3-5 days of work.

 

[alkemyst]

"The court's document mentions that the products in question must be purchased during the period January 1, 1998 through December 31, 2002"

that's gonna be a chore to try and remember everything and come up with documentation to prove it beyond filing a claim. Sounds like they'll be ready to give out $10 for anyone who asks for it, otherwise if you file a larger claim (particularly the volume buyers who might be eligible for the $1000+) you'll definitely need proof

QFT, the sad part of these class actions is they get raped by those that weren't affected.

It's not just class actions though. Do a typical fake slip and fall or whiplash car accident claim and most insurers will settle for roughly $10,000.

It's sad.

 

[KingFatty]

QFT, the sad part of these class actions is they get raped by those that weren't affected.

It's not just class actions though. Do a typical fake slip and fall or whiplash car accident claim and most insurers will settle for roughly $10,000.

It's sad.

But the whole point is that you *NEED* to have some way to punish corporations.

Do you think if each single person had to bring a claim in small-claims court to sue a memory maker for $10 - would that even happen?

The naughty corporation would just get away with screwing everyone over, and just wouldn't care. So what, maybe a handful of people actually go through the trouble of filing a lawsuit, but really, any rational person would be foolish to even file because it takes more effort and time etc. than the payout is worth.

So you need to have class-action suits because they *HURT* the naughty corporations that are made to pay a lot.

It's not about paying the little guys, it's about hurting the naughty corporations that wronged everyone.

 

[sxr7171]

Check the consoles. Everybody bought a PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast etc. Hopefully this will teach them that collusion is not cool.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I still have my TNT and Geforce 2 GTS.
128MB RAM purchased.

Oh darn, I forgot I had a 256MB laptop in there.

 

[unixwizzard]

wow.. a $310 million dollar settlement...

11. How will the Settlement Funds be distributed?

It is expected that approximately $200 million will be paid to Class Members and consumers represented by their state Attorney General who file valid claims. Payments will be determined on a pro rata basis.

This means it will be based on the number of valid claims filed as well as on the number/type of DRAM modules or electronic devices containing DRAM that you purchased (only the DRAM portion of the value of devices containing DRAM will be considered for claims purposes). At this time, it is unknown how much money each Class Member will recover. The distribution plan provides for an anticipated minimum payment of $10 for each individual or business that makes a claim.

It is possible that money will be distributed to public or non-profit organizations in addition to or instead of Class Members who file small claims:

• If there are fewer than 2.5 million individuals and businesses with small claims (“small claimants&#8221, their claims will be treated as follows:

o The small claimants’ checks will be increased pro rata above $10, up to a maximum of the estimated actual single damages from the alleged overcharge for each claimant, until the available funds up to $25 million are exhausted; and

o If the $25 million is not exhausted, any money remaining will be distributed to non-profit organizations approved by the Court to support public or not-for-profit activities on a geographically diverse basis to address the injury alleged in the lawsuits.

• If there are more than five million small claimants, no cash distribution will be made to them. Instead, $40 million will be distributed to non-profit organizations approved by the Court, as described above.

Sounds fishy to me.. if more than 5 million claimants, nobody gets a cent, except $40 million that supposedly goes to charity. That leaves $270 million for the lawyers.. if they get 2.5 million claims, then they get a share of $25 million dollars, leaving $285 million for the lawyers. How it goes from $200 million to claimants to the $25 or $40 million they mention is beyond me. Since there is no mention where the rest of that money goes, it must be going to the lawyers.

There should be a law, maybe even a Constitutional amendment limiting the amount lawyers can collect to something like 5 or 10 percent of the settlement. It's bullshit that the lawyers get the bulk of any settlement like this.

 

[denis280]

Gee... $10. Wonder how much the lawyers got...

Dram lots of money

 

[Charlie98]

So you need to have class-action suits because they *HURT* the naughty corporations that are made to pay a lot.

It's not about paying the little guys, it's about hurting the naughty corporations that wronged everyone.

I guess we need some class-action lawsuits that *HURT* the naughty frivolous lawsuit lawyers, too...

It's not about paying the little guys, it's not about hurting the naughty corporations, it's about making money.

 

[tweakboy]

Wow 10 dollars, IM rich, IM rich

 

[_Rick_]

How it goes from $200 million to claimants to the $25 or $40 million they mention is beyond me.

Those are two different pools of claims.
The total payout will be between 225 and 240 millions, with the remaining 70 probably going into administration and lawyer fees.

 

[ViviTheMage]

hahaha nice, might try it, pretty sure I bought some dram back then:

14. Do I need to supply documentation or proof of what I purchased?
Not with your claim, but it’s possible that the Claims Administrator may request it at a later time, so save any documentation/proof that you may still have.

 

[vasdrakken]

The small claims either refers to individuals or the traditional matters handled in small claims courts, ie anything less than 100 dollars. The price fixing is at worst only going to be half the cost of the items would be my guess.

So if you bought a $20 memory module during the time period that would have cost $10 with out the price fixing you would be entitled to $10 in damages. So you would be considered a small claim.

If you bought say four high end video cards during the time that cost 200 or 300 dollars and half the cost was from the ram, cut the ram cost in half for 50 - 75 dollars a card and with four of them upgrading every year, that is 200 to 300 dollars in damages. That would take you out of the small claims court. Which should take you out of the small claims pool.

The numbers when I looked at it stated that 25% is the attorney's fees some of which are attorney generals for states involved in this. The difference between the 310 and 200, would be 70 mil for fees and 40 mil for expenses and legal fees. They don't expect the cost for the legal fees to come out of the lawyers pockets for some reason. So that suggests that 175 mil is being set aside for larger claims and 25 mil for smaller claims. I would guess this is so that the larger claims don't remove them selves and then use this case as a precedent, to get more money out of them.

I like how this case took 12 years to get to this point. The whole reason the cut off is 2002 is that is when the case was started.

PS I did not create an account on her just to post this, my old account does not seem to exist anymore, so I created a new account any way, this post was just when I noticed my old account does not work anymore.

 

[daxzy]

Do they require receipts?

I have high doubts as to whether people keep receipts 16 years ago.

 

[tweakboy]

Thats cool, Ill get like 10 bucks lol

 

[rsutoratosu]

luckily for me, when i moved i kept all my receipt in a bunch of boxes that i never looked at. I found them in a pile with stuff i needed for this years taxes too, so i'm good there... i bought a lot of stupid memory in those days.. pc100/133/ddr1s

 

[Motavian]

Is there any negative side to applying for this?

These guys sent me tons of form letters over the years so they must think I'm eligible. I'm pretty sure I bought DRAM from Crucial around that time, which must be where they got my name.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Anyone receive a confirmation email yet?