New Service Spotlight: Class Action Settlement Money Retrieval From Computershare

Computershare is a global public financial services company whose claims recovery division helps companies receive their settlement money from class action lawsuits once a settlement has been reached. Its goal is to save companies the time and expense of filing, tracking, and claiming their refunds.

Companies fail to participate in antitrust class action settlements for a number of reasons: not receiving notice of the settlement; not having the time or resources to prepare and file a claim; or not having the expertise or systems to track and monitor case and settlement progress properly and falsely believing that the amount of the refund does not justify the effort in obtaining it.

Recently, 11 SRAM chip manufacturers and 15 TFT-LCD flat panel product manufacturers have settled separate class action claims of price fixing and anti-competitive practices. There is $118 million in settlement money available for SRAM purchasers and $420 million available for companies who bought TFT-LCD flat panel products.

For SRAM chips, the deadline is October 24, 2011 for companies that purchased non-custom SRAM to join the class action settlement against 11 major electronics manufacturers. Companies that bought SRAM indirectly (not directly from SRAM manufacturers) also must file their claims by October 24, 2011. Companies that bought SRAM directly from manufacturers have not received a deadline for their claims.

For TFT-LCD flat panel products, companies that purchased them, both directly and indirectly, are eligible to recover settlement money from 15 manufacturers over price fixing and anti-competitive practices.

Computershare’s goal is to help companies recover this money. This is not litigation. This is a refund from the settlements. Companies are already eligible if they purchased SRAM chips and TFT-LCD products.

Computershare manages the entire process from beginning to end. Once the claim is filed, it does the critical follow up work of reviewing all rejected/deficient claims and contesting improper claim determinations. Computershare audits the ultimate recovery against the claim amounts to ensure all money due is recovered and provides clients with periodic status updates throughout the entire claims process.

If facility managers (fms) are interested in exploring other antitrust cases, they can contact Computershare. The company’s proprietary database contains information on all active antitrust cases and pending settlements—in the hundreds—so it can advise fms of every antitrust class action settlement in which they might be eligible to participate.