Mac Forum / General / Hardware / April 2006

Well, the lawyers *do* get paid under this settlement, but
compared to, say, the tobacco-screwjob, these guys seem to
be getting a fee which doesn't seem outrageously unreasonable:

  From the inception of these lawsuits beginning in 2003 to the
  present, Plaintiffs' Counsel have not received any payment for
  their services in prosecuting the lawsuit, nor have they been
  reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses. If the Court approves
  the proposed settlement, Plaintiffs' Counsel will ask the Court to
  award them attorneys' fees and out-of-pocket expenses in the amount
  of $2,768,000. Apple has agreed not to oppose an award that does
  not exceed $2,768,000. In addition, Plaintiffs' Counsel will ask
  the Court to award a $1,500 incentive payment to each of the Class
  representatives, in addition to the benefits to which they are
  entitled under the settlement, for their time and effort related to
  the Litigation. Finally, Apple has agreed to pay all costs of
  mailed and published notice to the Class, as well as the costs of
  administering the Settlement.

It sure isn't chopped liver, either, though.  That 2.7 million
is begin split between a handful of lawyers and their firms.
Purely out of curiosity, I'd like to know how much time they
actually spent on this and how much risk (ie. if the spent
the time but no settlement came about and maybe they lost
the case in court, they'd have spent all that time for
nothing).  But at a glance, it doesn't appear to me that
the lawyers made out like bandits here.

And, frankly, the batteries on iPods do suck.  It hasn't
deterred me from having had several over the years - and
I love my current nano (which has been the best of the
bunch by far) - and I haven't participated in these lawsuits,
but I have no illusions about the crappy batteries in iPods.

No, he's just a typical wormlike parasite look for something for
nothing. Class action lawsuits are just a way for lawyers and parasites
to suck money out of a corporation. Even if a lawsuit is without merit
the targeted corporation will rarely fight it through because it's
cheaper to settle. The lawyers know it and the parasites know it too.
Pick any old complaint and get a judge to authorize class action status.
Bingo, you win, no matter what.

I received one of these class action forms years ago over some class
action about OS 9 or something. I tore it up and thew it away. That's
what the OP should have done. Instead the greedy little worm had no
problem sucking money out of his victim and I'm tired of paying more for
products because slime like this gets off on getting money for nothing.