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EA Football Video Game Class Action Settlement Approved
By Matt O’Donnell
A federal judge on Thursday granted final approval to a $27 million class action lawsuit settlement resolving claims Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) attempted to monopolize the football video game market and price-gouge consumers.
On May 30, 2013, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the agreement, which will provide cash payments to consumers who purchased Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football video games released between January 1, 2006 and June 21, 2012.
Last month, Judge Wilken modified the EA football video game settlement to increase the amount of money Class Members could claim to almost three times more than was originally proposed. She also extended the claims filing deadline to May 15, 2013.
The class action settlement will resolve claims that EA violated antitrust and consumer protection lawsuits by holding exclusive license agreements with the NFL, NCAA and AFL to market branded football video games. The alleged deal drove out competitors and enabled EA to price-gouge consumers, including by charging 70 percent more for “Madden NFL,” according to the 2008 class action lawsuit.
EA denies wrongdoing and maintains it never overcharged for its games, but agreed to the class action lawsuit settlement to resolve the litigation.
As of April 15, over 9.6 million email notices were sent to Class Members notifying them of the EA football video game class action settlement. Only 89 Class Members asked to be excluded and nine Members filed timely objections, according to the approval order.
Judge Wilken said none of the objections to the settlement warranted denial of final approval of the Settlement Agreement.
“Among other things, the argument that the amount of monetary compensation provided to class members is too low is unavailing; Class Members will receive three times the amount that Plaintiffs’ expert calculated they were overcharged,” Wilken wrote.
She also rejected objections that the injunctive relief provided by the Settlement Agreement is inadequate, saying the relief provided addresses the conduct that was the target of the class action lawsuit while still allowing competition to enter the marketplace for football video games.
Class Members that submitted valid Claim Forms by the May 15 deadline can expect to receive checks in the mail within the next few months.
The case is Geoffrey Pecover v. Electronic Arts, Case No. 8-cv-02820 CW, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland.
UPDATE: Payments went out to Class Members in late October 2013. Congratulations to our Top Class Actions readers who submitted a valid claim and got PAID!
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
7 thoughts onEA Football Video Game Class Action Settlement Approved
Got mine today. It was in a postcard and seemed pretty easy to miss. I am in CA and it was for $186.36
GOT MY CHECK TODAY FOR $64.14. THANKS, T.C.A.
STILL NOTHING FOR ME.
Got $142. Thought it was junk mail. Lucky I checked!
got a check for $162.98 in a post card like- florida
How long they easy the checks in the mail
I submitted a claim for this lawsuit but have not received any confirmation, correspondence or payment. How do I check on the status of my claim.