CD price-fixing settlement delayed -
A man who’s currently in Georgia State Prison for burglary and child molestation is preventing close to four million people from getting their share of a CD price-fixing settlement owed to them by the record industry.
Last year, the Big Five record labels and three of the largest music retailers in the US were forced to agree to pay $67.4 million and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups to avoid getting hammered for ‘alleged’ price fixing.
"We’ve been tracking this since the settlement was announced back in September of last year," writes KOMO TV’s Connie Thompson here. "Checks were supposed to be in the mail in July."
"Earlier this month, certain articles reported that the Settlement in this case had just been approved and that distribution of settlement payments would occur within a few weeks," says the settlement site here.
"These reports were erroneous."
Five consumers appealed, apparently on the grounds that to stop the disbursement of money the settlement wasn’t fair, four of the appeals were eventually dropped, "But one appeal remains," she says.
"The man behind that appeal, behind bars for burglary and child molestation, wants $6 million and a collection of Beatles CDs," says Thompson.
"You may think it’s nonsense, but until the prisoner’s appeal is dismissed, no one gets any money. State attorneys general are still waiting for a judge to respond to their motion to move forward with the disbursement process.
"Our [Washington's] attorney general’s office says they were hoping people would have their checks by the end of the year but that’s unlikely now. If you filed a claim and it was approved, you’ll eventually get a check for $13.76."
