You have a month left to get your share of Facebook’s $725M settlement | Hacker News Reader

You have a month left to get your share of Facebook’s $725M settlement

cnbc.com

37 pointsgslin15 comments

… if you resided in the United States at any time between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022, inclusive.

Do you have to have had a Facebook account? I'm asking because they keep profiles on people even if they're not Facebook users.

The real take away from this post is that you can only get reperations from us companies if you are a US citizen.

No, that false: It says residents, not citizens.

Also, the limited scope is not unusual or special to the US either: Across the world there are different courts and jurisdictions, and very few allow some weird kind of global marque-and-reprisal.

If you're going to make cheap "USA uniquely bad" shots, at least pick actual problems.

No, it wasn't a cheap shot, it was based on the error condition on the page. You're reading too much into this.

Too bad it's US only :'(

Does a student J1 visa qualify? Or are you required to have a resident permit?

I had a J1 and I will apply. The website only says ‘resided in us at the time’

It's going to be something like $5, like most class actions.

If it ever comes. As far as I can tell, Equifax still hasn’t been paid out

Google one was over $90

Does a large portion of this $725M not actually get allocated to "victims," or do you think 145M people are going to apply for this?

I guess the lawyers will first extract a huuuugely generous commission for themselves, and what remains is peanuts :)

The average (mean and median) for attorneys' fees in class actions typical lies between 20% and 25%, depending on the category of case and jurisdiction. https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/theodore_eisenb... There's a pretty strong correlation with hours worked, too, so while it's a profitable occupation to be sure, there are not typically windfalls even with large cases.

By comparison, non-class action civil cases taken on contingency hover generally around 33%, though for factory line legal work (i.e. rote, high volume), like workers comp cases, it's usually much lower, IIRC, like 15%.

From the settlement:

> Class Counsel will ask the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees not to exceed 25% of the Settlement Fund, as well as reasonable expenses incurred in the litigation. They will also ask the Court to approve a Service Award for each of the Settlement Class Representatives not to exceed $15,000 each. The Court may award less than these amounts. If approved, these fees, expenses and awards will be paid from the Settlement Fund.

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