Topher
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July 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in California has declined to approve a class action settlement with Sony that would have distributed $7.8 million in electronic credits to millions of users of the company's PlayStation video game consoles.
Sony had agreed to the settlement to resolve claims that it overcharged for digital games, but U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in San Francisco said in a ruling, on Thursday that the plaintiffs had not convinced her the accord was adequate.
Martínez-Olguín described the agreement as a coupon settlement, and said those types of deals are generally disfavored.
The judge said the consumers who brought the case can file a revised proposal.
Michael Buchman, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, declined to comment. Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs, who estimated the class size at more than 4.4 million individuals, sued Sony after its 2019 move to bar retailers such as Best Buy and GameStop from selling so-called download codes for digital PlayStation games.
The lawsuit accused Sony of illegally monopolizing the sale of digital PlayStation games.
Martínez-Olguín in her ruling said any updated settlement proposal should show how the "value and structure of this settlement remain defensible," with an estimate of what individual class members would receive. She asked for examples of comparable cases and their outcomes.
In a court filing, Sony said it was settling to avoid the further expense and distraction of continued litigation. The company denied any wrongdoing.
The settlement period covers eligible PlayStation game purchases made between April 2019 and December 2023, according to court filings.
The plaintiffs' lawyers in a filing in December said they had invested about 13,700 hours in the litigation, which began in 2021. They had planned to seek up to about 33% of the settlement for legal fees, or about $2.61 million.
The case is Agustin Caccuri et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:21-cv-03361-AMO.
Corporations have zero backbone. If they are going to "deny any wrongdoing" then fight the damn lawsuit.
Sony had agreed to the settlement to resolve claims that it overcharged for digital games, but U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in San Francisco said in a ruling, on Thursday that the plaintiffs had not convinced her the accord was adequate.
Martínez-Olguín described the agreement as a coupon settlement, and said those types of deals are generally disfavored.
The judge said the consumers who brought the case can file a revised proposal.
Michael Buchman, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, declined to comment. Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs, who estimated the class size at more than 4.4 million individuals, sued Sony after its 2019 move to bar retailers such as Best Buy and GameStop from selling so-called download codes for digital PlayStation games.
The lawsuit accused Sony of illegally monopolizing the sale of digital PlayStation games.
Martínez-Olguín in her ruling said any updated settlement proposal should show how the "value and structure of this settlement remain defensible," with an estimate of what individual class members would receive. She asked for examples of comparable cases and their outcomes.
In a court filing, Sony said it was settling to avoid the further expense and distraction of continued litigation. The company denied any wrongdoing.
The settlement period covers eligible PlayStation game purchases made between April 2019 and December 2023, according to court filings.
The plaintiffs' lawyers in a filing in December said they had invested about 13,700 hours in the litigation, which began in 2021. They had planned to seek up to about 33% of the settlement for legal fees, or about $2.61 million.
The case is Agustin Caccuri et al v. Sony Interactive Entertainment, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:21-cv-03361-AMO.
Corporations have zero backbone. If they are going to "deny any wrongdoing" then fight the damn lawsuit.