Apple reaches $22.5 million settlement in Nano scratch suit
Apple has reached a $22.5 million settlement agreement in the class action iPod Nano scratch lawsuit and potential claimants began receiving settlement notices this week, according to the plaintiffs attorney.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2005 in a California Superior Court in Los Angeles County, alleges Apple's iPod Nano is prone to scratches and its alleged defects were not disclosed by the company.
A $22.5 million cash settlement agreement was reached in late October and a court has preliminarily approved the agreement, said the plaintiffs attorney. But it wasn't until this week that notices of the settlement agreement began going out to the potential pool of claimants, estimated to be a few million people.
A court hearing is scheduled for April 28 for final court approval on the settlement agreement.
Under the settlement agreement, potential claimants must have purchased an iPod Nano that was subject to scratches that affected the enjoyment of using the media player device, or impaired its operation.
Users who opt to file a claim may be eligible to collect one of two types of payments.
Tier one payments of $25 per iPod Nano purchased, may be distributed to claimants who did not receive a free slip case when they originally purchased their iPod Nano.
Tier two payments of $15 may be distributed to users who received a free slip case with their original iPod Nano purchase.
Those payment figures, however, may shift in one direction or the other, depending on how many users file a claim.
If there are additional funds leftover, after all tier one and two users file a claim, then the remainder will be distributed to those claimants--but that additional payout will be capped at 150 percent of the type of tier they filed under. And any money left in the fund after those additional payouts will be award to charities.
But if the number of claimants outstrips the $22.5 million fund, then the payouts will be reduced on a prorated basis.
Apple declined to comment on the settlement agreement.
However, on the lawsuit Web site, Apple denies all allegations in the lawsuit and in the class action, noting it is "entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing or an indication that any law was violated."
Dawn Kawamoto covers enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News. E-mail Dawn. 
Uh oh, my cell phone just got scratched. Yaa! Free money!
Sweatpants might not be the exact material, but I know for a fact jeans were. Jeans shouldn't scratch a screen, ever. That should be the minimum scratchproof level.
I should probably find something that I can sue Apple with too !
it was a huge design flaw. when the included cases scratched the screen, then there was a problem with the material used for the screen surface. same thing happened with the the very first 60gb video iPods. I saw a few people with both Nanos and 5g's that used the included case that constantly scratched the screen each time you put it in or took it out of the case. so if the case scratched it, imagine what would happen if you just put it in your jean pockets and walked around for an hour or so. when that generation came out, there was much more focus on pictures and video so the screen was very important compared to earlier models.
you should not have to go out and buy screen protectors when you just forked over a nice big wad of cash to Apple because they used some extremely cheap Chinese plastic.
but you are an Apple apologist most likely and will blame the user for the scratches and not a Apple for their choice of cheap plastic just to shave off 2 cents of their profit margin.
notice how the iPod Touch and the iPhone now have glass screens and the previous gen nano/iPod had a much more scratch resistant screen. WONDER WHY? cause their cheap ass plastic just cost them $22.5 million.
Obviously the only ones getting mad here are the crapple fan-boys. ^^
i just made $25!
The USA is DEAD. The Constirution is dead. The Economy and AmeriKan hedgemony is Dead.
Why? Greed, Greed and more grred and litigiousness. Watch as more and more companies abandon the US for less BS waters in other countris.
AmeriKans are a bunch of whiney wqannabees looking for handouts. You will get the socialism you deserve. While I and other expatriate ourselves to forgien lands, and freedom opporuntities, the USA is going down the tubes. Thank GOD for BHO, who will finally lay to rest the Constituion our Republic was founded upon. GOD help you all.
[Editor's note: Profanity deleted]
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28813376/site/14081545?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=yahoo
"In the ensuing months, Tomczak claimed he was the target of numerous online attacks for his lead role in what some perceived as a "frivolous" suit, and he reportedly tried to have his name removed from the action. Instead, the original law firms filed actions against Tomczak to keep his name attached to the suit, forcing Tomczak to retain his own attorney to fight the original lawyers."
What an idiot... this is what you get dealing with devils.