SMS Spam Settlement Could Pay Users Up to $100

Have you ever received an SMS text spam from "77893," or from Web sites like cashusa101.com or hothomes1000.com? If you did, you might be eligible for a settlement of up to $100.

As part of a settlement in the "Kramer v. B2Mobile, LLC and LeadClick Media, Inc." case, users can receive up to $100 apiece if they ever received an unwanted SMS text spam from "77893" or any of these Web sites between January 1, 2008 until July 29, 2011. Unsolicited text messages on "a variety of other topics, including online education, payday loans, and real estate" were also sent and qualify for the settlement.

The TextAdClass site was set up as a proposed settlement that has been agreed upon by the two parties, but has yet to be formally approved by an Oakland, Calif. court. The two defendants, B2Mobile LLC and LeadClick Media, Inc. have formally denied that they have broken any laws or harmed consumers, but have settled nevertheless.

Here's the way it works: users need to visit the Textadclass.com Web site and sign up, acknowledging that they meet the conditions of the settlement under penalty of perjury, and did receive an unwanted text from the 77893 short code or related Web site during the specified period.

Meanwhile, users can select to be part of one of two class-action settlement parties, either under the B2Mobile or LeadClick settlements. Here's where it gets tricky.

The settlement totals $12.2 million, made up of a $10 million LeadClick Settlement Fund and a $2.2 million B2Mobile Settlement Fund. (Of this, up to 25 percent will be paid to the lawyers, and $10,000 to the class representative.) Users can select to be in one class or the other. Users will receive up a share of the settlement, up to $100, which will be divided up depending on how many users there are. If there are, for example, ten claimants each for each class settlement, all twenty users will receive $100.

However, the plaintiffs believe that up to 47 million people may be eligible for the settlement. If every one files, no one individual will receive anything - part of the provision of the settlement is that if the individual share drops below $5 apiece, then each share will be donated to a charity of a user's choice, including such choices as Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

So, the bottom line is this: for the LeadClick settlement fund, a bit less than $8.95 million is available for settlement. If more than 1.788 million people file, then the settlement all goes to charity. (If fewer than 89,500 people file, all of them will receive $100.)

For the B2Mobile fund, slightly less than $1.65 million is available. If more than 328,000 people file, than that money goes to charity as well; if less than 16,500 people file, all of the filers will receive $100. Unfortunately, the way the settlement reads, the process looks like a game.

Users can also opt out, and file their own suits, or do nothing, and receive no compensation.

The court will rule on the proposed settlement on Jan. 26, 2012. Checks should be mailed out 60 to 90 days later, and will be voided 90 days after that, the settlement site said.

Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391037,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000762