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Judge Approves Distribution of De Beers Consumer Class Action Settlement Checks
By Mike Holter
We finally have some good news for members of the De Beers Indirect Purchaser Consumer Subclass – U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler has officially signed an order authorizing the distribution of settlement checks to consumers.
In an order signed May 13, 2013, but filed with the court yesterday, Judge Chesler approved distribution of the De Beers class action settlement fund to consumers who submitted a valid Claim Form by the original deadline of May 19, 2008 and for those who submitted late claims on or before March 1, 2013. That means consumers should be expecting settlement checks in the mail soon.
Last month we mistakenly reported that Judge Chesler had signed off on the distribution on April 9, but the document filed was actually a proposed order that he officially signed on Friday.
In addition to approving distribution of the $107.9 million De Beers class action settlement, the order approves the administrative recommendations of the Claims Administrator, Rust Consulting, concerning the rejection of deficient and ineligible claims.
Judge Chesler said Rust offered claimants “reasonable notice of claim deficiencies and an opportunity to cure them.” These deficiencies included, but were not limited to, claims filed without supporting documentation, claims that were missing a signature, and claims that fell below $10.
Rust received and processed 606,044 claims, of which 547,741 claimants were mailed letters advising them their claims were deficient and told they had between 15 and 30 days to respond and cure the deficiencies. In the end, only 551,909 claimants were eligible to receive a distribution from the class action settlement fund, according to court documents.
Even if your claim is rejected, you may be able to talk the administrator into approving your claim if you have good cause. In his order, Chesler also approved Rust’s recommendation to reserve from the De Beers Consumer Settlement Fund the sum of $18,075 for “future unanticipated contingencies, including for payment claimants who come forward and provide good cause as to why their previously rejected claim should be paid.”
The De Beers Diamond Class Action Lawsuit Settlement case is Shawn Sullivan, et al. v. DB Investments Inc., Case No. 04-cv-2819 (SRC), U.S. District Court, New Jersey.
Updated May 21st, 2013
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41 thoughts onJudge Approves Distribution of De Beers Consumer Class Action Settlement Checks
wish there was an ombudsman on all our behalf (doesn’t any lawyer kind of represent us as class action plaintiffs0 and require straight info..like when and approx how much. where di dyou al gt that 38.5% figure.
is there anywhere that they will tell us how they calculate what we each get? is there a std. formula or % based on what we each submitted?wouldn’t they have begun to calculate our $$ in advance of the judges approal..or is this another delaying tactic. when you say 38.5% do you mean that is wht is expected for each of us based on total $$ submitted.
Can you explain why they re dragging their feet on final payments to we consumers? wouldn’t you think they began calculations in advance of this approval??. is this std. procedure to drag their feet? very upsetting after 5 years. are they bound to pay out within a certain amount of time since all appeals are over and it is settled? Thanks. Bonnie Salkind
This is crazy, I submitted more than $80 thousand in claims – I actually pulled everything out and noticed I never received anything from them…So what is my recourse if I don’t hear anything..Can someone please provide me with their contact information. I really hope I will receive something from this…
Checks supposedly being mailed out this friday, according to a paralegal in one of the law firms. We might finally know soon of our long wait was worth anything at alllllllll…..
Rust and g.c.g are a bunch of crooks it seems like they can get away with any thing they want with no consequences.
Is a new class action case against Rust and Debeers in the works? If not, who can start one for the consumer class that has been so horribly handled?
No more diamonds will be purchased in our family.
Rust is just trying to come up with a legal way to screw everybody out of their money and keep as much as they can for their own pockets beause none of this makes any logical sense.
Hey maybe if all half of million of us were to write to Rust everyday they would try and get our checks out as quickly as they did the other sub classes. As of March the news was that we were next and our checks would be in the mail in the “next few months”. Now it is the fall? This is unbelievable. I wrote to them today just to se if they would give me an answer as to a time line. I am not going to hold my breath waiting on an answer.
This is BS. Go check them out at the BBB In MArch they said this in response to a complaint about their handling of this and they said 3 weeks after approval, not 3 months! LOL:
“03/07/2013 Problems with Product / Service |
Business Response
Rust Consulting is in receipt of complaint number 57247104, which is regarding the administration of the Sullivan v. DB Investments, Inc., No. 04-2819 (D.N.J.). Rust is a firm that specializes in the administration of class action settlements and similar complex programs involving notification, contact centers, claims processing, and fund distribution. Rust is the administrator of the above-referenced settlement.
Rust acts on the direction of counsel in this matter. There remain issues related to the distribution of the fund and no concrete deadline or timeline. Plaintiffs’ counsel is in the process of determining the final distributable amount. Once that is provided to Rust, we will finalize the calculations and submit a declaration to the Court for approval. Subsequent to that approval, Rust will print and mail checks, likely within approximately three weeks.
Because several of these factors are outside of Rust’s control and have no deadlines, we cannot give a more concrete timeline or informational updates beyond what has been given. We will continue to provide updated information as it becomes available to us.
The delays in this process do not reduce claimants’ disbursements, and any interest being accumulated in settlement funds is not controlled by or paid to Rust.”
http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/consultant-public-sector-planning/rust-consulting-in-minneapolis-mn-11002239/complaints