In a ruling issued last week in San Jose, California, US District Judge Ronald Whyte green-lighted a plan for Apple to pay $40 to everyone in the US who purchased an iPad 3G before June 2010.
The decision comes in response to several class action suits waged against Apple and AT&T, accusing them of advertising an unlimited data plan, and then taking it away after they purchased their iPad…
GigaOM has the scoop:
“Apple and AT&T are set to resolve a long-running class action suit over the companies’ decision in June, 2010 to end unlimited data plans for the iPad 3G tablet.
In a ruling issued this week in San Jose, California, US District Judge Ronald Whyte signed off on a plan that will see Apple pay $40 to everyone in the US who bought or ordered an iPad 3G before June 7, 2010.”
Under the settlement, which is expected to get final approval next February, Apple will attempt to send $40 checks to all who are eligible. That includes those who no longer own their original iPads.
Additionally, AT&T will be required to offer customers a $20 discount on its $50/month 5 GB data plan. But the deal is only available to customers who don’t currently have a data plan with them.
Apparently the carrier has added a ‘no-class action’ provision to their contracts in recent years, preventing customers from participating in, or collecting settlements from, class action lawsuits.