[mythtv-users] seagate giving refunds out

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sat Nov 3 14:47:17 UTC 2007


Greg Woods wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-11-02 at 19:38 -0600, Calvin Dodge wrote:
>> On Nov 2, 2007 6:54 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>>> (Of course my real complaint is that I'm one of those who never keeps
>>> receipts, so I lose out here :-)
>> IIRC, all you need are the drives' serial numbers, not the proof of
>> purchse. 
> 
> Either way, this is a case where the lawyers make a bundle at the
> expense of the company being sued. The fact that our legal system allows
> this (no "loser pays" system like they have in England) is the reason
> why we have such ridiculous lawsuits (and this is far from the worst
> we've seen).
> 
> The fact is, I probably did buy one or more Seagate drives during this
> time period. But the reality is that I have no idea which drives those
> are or even which machines they are in, and even if I did, we're talking
> 5% per drive, perhaps $10-$20. It's not even worth the time it would
> take me to open up the machines to record the serial numbers. So this is
> another case where they can advertise a huge payout by the defendant
> (thus encouraging more similar lawsuits) that doesn't actually happen.
> In reality, the vast majority of money paid in this case will go to
> lawyers.

I agree totally. I believe I have 3 "qualifying" drives but I will not
submit any claim, as I do not want to encourage this sort of thing.

OTOH the settlement may be structured so that the lawyers get what isn't
paid out. If I knew that to be the case I'd go to considerable trouble
to make sure I filed.

These "settlements" with undisclosed terms are another major problem
with the American legal system, but when you have a system where the
lawyers make the laws such abuses are inevitable.

But some settlements of such cases are really marketing in disguise.
Witness the Wagner case against Tracfone, where the additional minutes
awarded by the court can only be collected at the time of the "next
purchase". Some real genius came up with that one, as I'm sure a lot of
product will be sold that would not have been had the defendant not been
"punished". (Boone County, Kentucky, Circuit Court, Docket 06-C1-304).

beww


beww


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