Chad's News

January was a good month for class action lawsuit settlements. Some of them have very broad participation requirements.

• Apple iPod Nano scratches
• Dell computers
• Bank of America overdrafts
• Vonage fax service

Here’s a way to get a two-for-one deal on airline seats. It appears that Canada officially considers obesity to be a disability.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/…

For those Chad’s News readers who’ve purchased makeup between 1994 and 2003, you could participate in a $175 million class action settlement. I figure this probably covers anyone who’s female, and possibly even a good number of men.

Link: http://consumerist.com/…

A class action lawsuit has been brought against members of the DeBeers Group for inflating the price of diamonds. You can get part of the settlement if you belong to this group: “All persons located in the United States who purchased any diamond or diamond jewelry or other products containing gem diamonds for personal use and not for resale between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006.”

Link: https://diamondsclassaction.com/
(via The Consumerist)

If you purchased a Seagate hard drive in the United States between March 22, 2001 and September 26, 2007, then you are part of a class-action settlement and can get useful stuff or money. Note that you have to have purchased the hard drive by itself—it doesn’t count if it came with a pre-built system.

Link: http://www.harddrive-settlement.com/…
(via engadget)

A US District Court judge has ruled that the US Treasury must change its currency such that blind people can distinguish between bills of different denominations. Apparently the US is one of the few countries where this is a problem. An appeal has already been authorized.

Link: http://www.acsblog.org/…
(via Slashdot)

Link #2: http://today.reuters.com/…

This is an insightful article about the clash between fair use and the DMCA. The MPAA is suing a company that will copy your DVD to an iPod for you. The MPAA contends that circumventing the DVD copy protection is illegal, and that users must re-purchase the movie via the iTunes store in order to watch it on an iPod. The worst part is that they may be right.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Canadian officials were understandably upset when a US judge ordered a convicted sex offender to spend 3 years “exiled” in Canada.

http://today.reuters.com/…

According to this federal appeals court ruling, carrying large amounts of cash is sufficient cause for the cash to be confiscated and not returned. What planet are these judges from?

http://www.thenewspaper.com/…

The addition of a single comma will cost this company an estimated $2 million (Canadian).

Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…
(via digg)

Chief Justice Rehnquist died yesterday (Saturday), thus opening an additional spot on the US Supreme Court. Look for some serious political battles over this one.

Link: http://yro.slashdot.org/…