Column: off the record…, vol. 12-516

To all of the brave military families who have lost loved ones, you are in our thoughts.

To qualify as a member of the “Class,” consumers must meet the following requirements:

1) Purchased tickets on Ticketmaster’s website between Oct. 21, 1999 and Oct. 19, 2011.
2) Paid money to “Defendant Ticketmaster” for an Order Processing Fee (“OPF”) that was not refunded.
3) Did not and do not opt out of the Class.
4) Were residents of one of the 50 United States at the time of their purchase.

If all parties agree to the settlement, members of the Class will receive Ticketmaster credits in the form of discount codes for future transactions. The settlement notice states, “For each transaction that you made during the Class Period, you will receive one code via email for a $1.50 discount, up to a maximum of 17 codes. This does not include the additional benefits, for the UPS Subclass members, which are described below. The Codes may be combined up to a maximum of two credits ($3.00) that may be applied on future transactions as described above. The Codes are non-transferable, expire 48 months from distribution, and may be redeemed only for purchases made using the email address to which they were sent (or an updated address provided to the Claims Administrator or Ticketmaster and verified as belonging to the Class Member).”

If you purchased tickets and used UPS overnight delivery, you are also entitled to the following according to the settlement notice: “Specifically, for each transaction you made using UPS delivery of your tickets (up to 17 transactions), you will receive one UPS code (“UPS Code”) via email, for $5.00 off subsequent expedited delivery fees on purchases from Ticketmaster’s Website (except for events at venues owned or operated by AEG as set forth in the Settlement Agreement) of tickets that are shipped via UPS or some other form of overnight delivery that Ticketmaster may offer in the future. These UPS Codes may not be combined, and only one UPS Code may be used per transaction. However, this benefit may be used for a ticket order together with the OPF Code described above. The UPS Codes are non-transferable, expire 48 months after they are first usable, and may be redeemed only for purchases made using the email address to which they were sent (or an updated address provided to the Claims Administrator or Ticketmaster and verified as belonging to the Class Member).”

If it makes you feel any better, the lawyers representing all of us have “asked the Court for an award of up to $16,190,605.76 in attorneys’ fees and costs and expenses they have incurred. Lead Class Counsel has also asked the Court to award an incentive award not to exceed $20,000 for each of the two named Plaintiffs who brought this case. The money for the attorneys? fees and expenses, and the incentive awards will not be paid by the Class Members or from the benefits provided to the Class Members.”

To conclude, we get up to 17 $1.50 credits for future purchase and the lawyers get $16 million.

Have a great week!

©@U2/Lawrence, 2012.