Netflix Sending Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Notification E-mails

Several readers have reported that Netflix has started sending e-mails notifying customers that they will receive an automatic upgrade to the next plan as part of the settlement in the Frank Chavez vs. Netflix class-action lawsuit:

From: Netflix
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008
To: netflixcustomer@mail.com
Subject: IMPORTANT: Your Netflix Settlement Benefit

Dear Customer,

As a member of the Chavez vs. Netflix settlement class, you will receive a free upgrade to the next plan level for one month. Assuming your membership remains active for the remedy period, this benefit will automatically start with your next billing period and will appear in your Membership Terms and Details page.

No further action is necessary on your part.

NOTE: If your Netflix account is on hold, your upgrade will automatically apply for the next billing period after you remove your account hold.

Learn more about this settlement at:
http://www.netflix.com/settlement

-The Netflix Team

Thanks to Francis and John for sending this in.

Comments

[Brit]

Wasn't there talk of getting a free month if you had cancelled your account?

[Edward R Murrow]

Guilty as charged.

Don't ever believe the progaganda that trial lawyers bad, corporations good.

And while we're at it - Saints are guilty until proven innocent.

[galofree]

Eddie, you can't be found "guilty" in a civil case. You can be ruled against, but even that didn't happen here. It was a settlement. Facts need not apply, apparently.

[Edward R Murrow]

Language is a virus that at the bare minimum communicates ideas. Liable, guilty; it's all the same. Somebody did something wrong and got caught. Here's a pretty good exaple of somebody who was found liable/guilty in a civil proceeding:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.J._Simpson#Civil_trial_for_wrongful_death

[Craig]

@Brit:

Yeah I also heard something about a free month for past customers. Hopefully that free month means a free 1-out plan and not the 3-out plan. If they give PAST customers the 3-out plan, then it's only fair that CURRENT customers get upgraded from a 3-out plan to the 6-out plan and so on, right?

Also, if you didn't get an email from Netflix like the one above, don't worry. I remember reading something like they are going to spread it over 5 months or something so each month only 20% of us will get those emails.

Cheers.

"Yeah I also heard something about a free month for past customers. Hopefully that free month means a free 1-out plan and not the 3-out plan."

http://cdn.nflximg.com/us/corporate/settlement/amended_long_form_notice.pdf See section III.

Former members will get 1, 2 or 3-out depending on prior subscription. Not sure what will happen to people who had more than 3-out plans.

[Z]

Edward, you are the worst type of stupid. You are stupid that *thinks* it is smart.

[Sam]

Edward, stop sullying the name of the real Ed Murrow with your idiocy.

Liable, guilty; it's all the same.

No, they are not. Not legally. Not grammatically. Not by any measure other than your own broken mind.

Don't ever believe the progaganda that trial lawyers bad, corporations good.

Well, Chavez got $2000. The customers get a one free month upgrade. The lawyers got $2,528,000, so I'll have to give you a big "fuck you" and your lawyer dick sucking ways on this one.

Frank Chavez was an even bigger, gayer idiot than you, and then some leech lawyers found his case and took it on because they need to rape the economy more to afford more hookers and cocaine.

Netflix should have counter sued Chavez for being a whiny bitch.

There is hope, though. If 5% of those eligible for the settlement award (such as it is) deny it, the whole thing is invalidated, and the asshole lawyers get nothing.

[Edward R Murrow]

And I always thought that I was the *best* kind of stupid.

Sam, it's pretty clear that you're off your Risperdal meds and your Tourette syndrome which manifests itself in your use of obscenity is back in full force.

What about trial lawyers that took up the class action suit against Big Tobacco? Don't you think that if individuals filed their own cases that the Tobacco attorneys would go into a full court press until each individual ran out of money and had to drop their lawsuit?

[galofree]

Eddie,

You're arguing absolutes in a gray world. Not all trial lawyers are slime (though public opinion is that most are). It's not impossible to find examples of trial lawyers who actually provided a worthwhile service to their clients with minimal financial self-interest, but they're far outshined by the ones who are in it for themselves. In this scenario, the trial lawyers made out with a lot more than the result they garnered for their clients, most of whom only joined on the bandwagon to try to get stuff free.

[Harold]

So what does it mean to get a free upgrade from e.g. 3 DVDs at a time to 4 DVDs at a time for just one month? I suppose they'll send me a 4th DVD, but what happens at the end of the month? Is there some window of time during which I need to return the 4th DVD to avoid something bad happening? Return it too early, and I'll just get another one in the mail. Return it too late and then what? They bill me for it? They charge me for another month of upgraded service?

[anon]

To those who are bad mouthing trial lawyers,

Do you think that lawyers work for free? Most lawyers work at an hourly rate and with lengthy and detailed litigation, the hours add up. That is what happened here. If you've read the the settlement agreement available at Netflix's website, you'll see that discovery produced appox 100,000 pages of documents. How many hours do you think it would take you or a team of your friends to read those 100,000 pages and then develop a sound legal theory from which to argue? These are complex documents and aren't as easy to read as the Penthouse Forum you tuck yourself into bed with. Class actions are definitely a flawed process, and yes, the fees pad to lawyers can be very large, but those lawyers work for every hour they bill.

If you ever get sued, get arrested or ever need a lawyer to help you out of a jam, I hope you remember that you've bad mouthed lawyers in the past before you hurry off to one for help.