I hope this makes sense...
I think maybe I understand this, let's see if I can explain it - someone correct me if I'm wrong.
The original plaintiffs in the case claim that Paypal violated parts of the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act regarding dispute resolution procedures. They say that there have been unauthorized or incorrect electronic transfers to or from their account initiated by (a) themselves (? I don't understand how it would be unauthorized if they initiated it); (b) Paypal, in connection with refunds, complaints, etc. (i.e. if you payed for something you never got and Paypal refunded your money, stuff like that); or (c) any third party. The plaintiffs also say Paypal placed (from the e-mail) "inappropriate restrictions or other limits on customers' accounts and engaged in other improper practices."
Paypal says they didn't do anything wrong, but settled to avoid "the uncertainty and cost of a trial."
You are eligible to submit a claim (are a member of the class) if you do not live in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, or United Kingdom, and opened a PayPal account between October 1, 1999 and January 31, 2004.
To submit a valid claim you must be either a "Dispute Resolution Claimant" or a "Statutory Damage Fund Claimant."
To be a Dispute Resolution Claimant, you must have (prior to February 1, 2004) have
(1)"experienced or reported to PayPal an unauthorized or incorrect electronic transfer to or from their PayPal account including, without limitation, electronic transfers initiated by (a) the Fund Claimant (you, I think); (b) PayPal in connection with, among other things, chargebacks, refunds, buyer complaints, PayPal's Seller Protection Policy, Buyer Complaint Process and/or Buyer Protection Policy; or (c) any third party," had
(2)access to your PayPal account improperly, incorrectly or erroneously limited or restricted, in whole or in part," and have
(3) "made a request for information in connection with PayPal's restriction or limitation of the Fund Claimant's PayPal account or regarding an incorrect or unauthorized electronic transfer to which PayPal did not respond at all or did not respond to the Fund Claimant's satisfaction" (i.e. you made a request for info about why your account was restricted or why you had an unauthorized/incorrect transfer and they never responded).
To be a Statutory Damage Fund Claimant, you must not be a Dispute Resolution Claimant, and you can claim that Paypal should pay you for "potential statutory damages under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act," i.e. "it didn't happen to me but it could have." Most people probably fall under this.
The Statutory Damage Fund is no more than $500,000 for the entire class.
If you submit a Statutory Damage Fund Claim Form, the money is split between all people who have submitted valid claims with that form.
If you are a Dispute Resolution Claimant, you can submit either a short form or a long form.
If you submit the short form and have a valid claim, you will get $50 ("unless the amount needed to pay all of the Short Form claims exceeds the Short Form Fund. In that case, the Short Form Fund will be divided equally among all Short Form Claimants"), and if you submit the long form and have a valid claim, "an independent, court-approved claims administrator will evaluate your claim and determine the amount you should receive," taking into account the amount of damages you claim, the nature of your complaint, the quality of documentation you provide supporting your claim (i.e. if you have proof), the probability that you would be successful if you had gone to court with your claim, etc.
"If there are sufficient funds to pay all Short Form and Long Form Claimants in full in accordance with the written plan of allocation, any remaining funds will be divided equally among all Dispute Resolution Claimants to supplement their recoveries."
You can fill out the forms online, print them out and submit them, and if you get any money it will be transferred to your Paypal account - if you don't have a current account they'll send you a check after deducting $1 for the cost of issuing and mailing the check, and you can't get a check for less than $1.
If you participate in the settlement you sign your statement under penalty of perjury, and you give up the right to "sue, continue to sue, or be part of another lawsuit against PayPal relating to the legal issues in this case," and the settlement granted will be final.
If you want to opt-out (so that you can sue them later if you want) you have to mail or deliver (not e-mail) an original written, signed request for exclusion before September 7, 2004 to the Co-Lead Counsel at the address in the email.
The Court will hold a hearing on September 24, 2004 to decide if the settlement is fair, and if the settlement isn't approved by the court the lawsuit will proceed (my guess is it will be approved).
Like nb said, the attorneys will be the ones who get the real money. In my opinion unless you have a big time valid claim that falls under a Dispute Resolution Claim (and probably even if you do), this seems like a waste of time. I doubt the Statutory Damage Fund Claimants are going to get much of anything, and it seems kind of stupid to be like "nothing happened to me, but it could have, give me money!"
