Wikipedia is a little vague, but the class action is a little different then first poorly (and accidentally/wrongly) implied through that site. This is the trouble with community created/authored documentation. Any amount can be used to start a class action through a state court; however, to move it in to a federal court, ir must exceed $5million. This case would simply be handled by a state court. If you want, I can provide some links to more thorough descriptions of the class action suit, but you are correct in that the statutes are US statutes and any lawsuit would be determined by each country independently (using there own guidelines and statues), making international suits cumbersome, difficult, and rare.
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:20:29 +0100 Subject: Re: [MonoTouch] Class action lawsuit? From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] It also has to be more than $5m at stake (I douby MT+MD took 5m in total...). The wikipedia page is defn worth reading. On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 17:15, Nic Wise <[email protected]> wrote: And in reading wikipedia: for all those of us not in the US (which is a lot here): this doesn't apply to you. class action only exists in the US and a few EU states, tho those are mostly only setup for, say, a consumer organisation (eg Cunsumer Reports for eg) to take an action on behalf of a lot of people. On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 16:43, Wally McClure <[email protected]> wrote: A few thoughts:Getting into a lawsuit on this does not seem like a smart deal to me. As Nic wisely suggested, time is better spent developing rather than with lawyers. if someone decides to go the legal route, and I am not going to stand in their way in any way, shape, or form, the time you spend with a lawyer is significant and above the necessary bill rates. I seriously doubt that you will be able to get class action status. I don't know what the sales of monotouch/droid are and I don't know who it takes to achieve a class action status, but it doesn't seem to be a large enough number of sales. I could be wrong. >From what I heard, the mono management had about 5 minutes of advanced >knowledge of what was going to happen. I doubt that the half-off deal was in >anyway associated with the upcoming shutdown. While I think we are all upset over the firings and shutdowns of the products, lets not go looking for a scapegoat. My suggestion is to just let this go given what we know at this time. Wally > Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:24:57 +0100 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected]; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MonoTouch] Class action lawsuit? > > here's my thoughts: > > First, if the restructuring etc hadn't happened, you would have had a > great product by now, with 3 months of experience in it, which is > good. So I doubt you can blame the MonoTouch/MD people (ie, Miguel and > co) for that (which you didn't....) > > Which leads me on to the other one: while Miguel has said he was in > the process of spinning Mono* out of Novell from late last year, I > suspect they didn't know anything about the firings and general > product killing until slightly before we did - I would guess, tho I > dont KNOW, he might have known at most 30 mins before _everyone else_ > at Mono* did, which would be about 24 hours before all of us found > out. This is only 'cos he was a VP of something. Being he got fired > too, I suspect he didn't. > > I've been thru an acquission and subsequent shutdown of a team once, > and generally, only the top management (in our case, our dev/country > manager, hence why I suspect Miguel might have found out about it > slightly before everyone else there) find out before hand, and usually > only slightly before as they have to have a little time to think about > it and answer questions from the rest of the staff. But not always. > > But I seriously doubt that when the half-price deal was put into > motion, anyone on the MD/MT team knew what was going to happen. I > believe (maybe wrongly?) that they acted in good faith. Now, > attachmate/Novell.... thats another story. Worst. Customer. Service. > and. communication. EVER. Hence why the class action would be on > novell/attachmate, and not the MT/MD team. > > > > > > On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 08:14, Pete Macko <[email protected]> wrote: > > I dont mind the monotouch part as much as getting suckered into buying the > > pile of shit that is/was monodroid. Shame on me for trying to financially > > support a decent idea - should have waited for it to age a bit before > > busting out my credit card. $199 for a worthless broken steaming pile of > > dung. More than one person at Asstachmate must have known the real story > > before they cooked up the 'we are showing our gratitude to our loyal > > customers by offering monodroid at half off' (I.e. "Here is our chance to > > rectally invade the mono community one more time before they figure out > > what a bunch of pond scum douching asshats we are") marketing campaign. > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > On Jul 13, 2011, at 2:56, Nic Wise <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> For me it's actually moot, being my updates expired about 3 days > >> before the whole thing went down.... > >> > >> On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 00:34, Chris Hamblett <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >>> Class action suits work differently then regular suits. In the few I've > >>> been in, all I had to do was fill out a form which took ten minutes, wait > >>> 8 months, and received a check for the settlement amount. The lawyers > >>> make the money from the overall quantity of those that sign on and in > >>> many cases they force the defendant to pay there fee for making us take > >>> them to court, thus getting the full refund back for the clients they > >>> represent. Attach mate also broke their end of a contract, so they > >>> wouldn't be in a position to control if it is credit or not. That would > >>> be like you canceling a cell phone contract, then simply giving them some > >>> of your unwanted stuff of equal value to what is owed rather then paying > >>> any fees. Even if the license terms stipulate that we donated the fee to > >>> them and they were not obligated to provide anything in return, it would > >>> take a very crooked judge to agree that those terms are not fraudulent > >>> and unreasonable > >>> > >>> The biggest risk would involve the amount of people that sign on to the > >>> suit, which would immediately relate to the amount of a return a firm can > >>> expect to get paid for winning. They would look over the case and it's > >>> likely chance of winning, then if they found it to be in the client's > >>> favor they would poll how many individuals are interested in signing on. > >>> Anyone with the time to read these lists is not so busy coding that they > >>> can't fill out a form, but the risk is still there that not many people > >>> care about a couple hundred dollars. That's the whole push behind mail in > >>> rebates, a company rarely gets concerned of paying for them. > >>> > >>> Unfortunately, I don't know any class action firms, so it's a null point. > >>> I'm hoping someone else does, though. > >>> > >>> Sent from my iPad > >>> > >>> On Jul 12, 2011, at 5:40 PM, "Nic Wise" <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>>> Go for it, but I'm with Jason (and also not in the US). I make more in > >>>> a month and a half than the cost of the license, and my apps don't > >>>> sell _that_ well. > >>>> > >>>> And to be honest, I'd rather write apps than try to get compensation. > >>>> It's a better use of my time. > >>>> > >>>> But there is no way I'd stop you doing it. I'd read the license terms > >>>> tho. Your "pay out" could be ($499 / 12 months * number of months > >>>> left). Even if it was a corporate license, an hour or 2 of lawyer time > >>>> would be eaten up. If it worth spending the time for, say, $150 in > >>>> Attachmate credit? (being it's seldom a cash payout) > >>>> > >>>> On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 20:33, Chris Hamblett <[email protected]> > >>>> wrote: > >>>>> You are assuming that there are class action cases worth tens of > >>>>> millions > >>>>> all over the place. There are actually a lot of less then rich lawyers > >>>>> because they have to compete for the same cases; I can't see a lawyer > >>>>> choosing to starve then accept a $20k+ paycheck for a month or two > >>>>> worth of > >>>>> actual work, but then again I'm not a lawyer and they might choose the > >>>>> principle of begging on the street then work for less then a certain > >>>>> amount. > >>>>> Just think of the lawyers who take a case of medical malpractice worth > >>>>> $10k > >>>>> to $15k; if they had soo many million dollar cases, they would > >>>>> constantly > >>>>> turn down those "low profile" cases. It's like a software developer > >>>>> never > >>>>> working for less then $40 an hour and choosing to get food stamps > >>>>> instead > >>>>> because the good paying jobs are gone; this is rarely the case, and > >>>>> people > >>>>> always take less then thrilling jobs while hoping for something better. > >>>>> > >>>>> ________________________________ > >>>>> Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:24:47 -0500 > >>>>> Subject: Re: [MonoTouch] Class action lawsuit? > >>>>> From: [email protected] > >>>>> To: [email protected] > >>>>> CC: [email protected] > >>>>> > >>>>> not even a bad lawyer would be interested in a class action with a $40k > >>>>> liability. They're interested in cases in the tens of millions. > >>>>> I'm as pissed as anyone at Attachmate, but suing them is just going to > >>>>> make > >>>>> the lawyers richer, and give you an ulcer in the process. > >>>>> At this point I'm content to wait and see what Xamarin comes up with. > >>>>> > >>>>> On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Chris Hamblett <[email protected]> > >>>>> wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> Does anyone know a good class action lawyer that would be interested > >>>>> in pursuing Attachmate to get some of the license fees refunded to > >>>>> current > >>>>> paid owners? I bet their is at least $40k worth of licensing that > >>>>> Attachmate > >>>>> is not supporting per the purchase terms. This is especially pertinent > >>>>> to > >>>>> those that are having license activation problems and cannot even use > >>>>> the > >>>>> deployment portion of the IDE. > >>>>> ~Chris > >>>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>>> MonoTouch mailing list > >>>>> [email protected] > >>>>> http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/monotouch > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>>> MonoTouch mailing list > >>>>> [email protected] > >>>>> http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/monotouch > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> Nic Wise > >>>> t. +44 7788 592 806 | @fastchicken | http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicwise > >>>> b. http://www.fastchicken.co.nz/ > >>>> > >>>> mobileAgent (for FreeAgent): get your accounts in your pocket. > >>>> http://goo.gl/IuBU > >>>> Trip Wallet: Keep track of your budget on the go: http://goo.gl/ePhKa > >>>> London Bike App: Find the nearest Boris Bike, and get riding! > >>>> http://goo.gl/Icp2 > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> MonoTouch mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/monotouch > >>> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Nic Wise > >> t. +44 7788 592 806 | @fastchicken | http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicwise > >> b. http://www.fastchicken.co.nz/ > >> > >> mobileAgent (for FreeAgent): get your accounts in your pocket. > >> http://goo.gl/IuBU > >> Trip Wallet: Keep track of your budget on the go: http://goo.gl/ePhKa > >> London Bike App: Find the nearest Boris Bike, and get riding! > >> http://goo.gl/Icp2 > >> _______________________________________________ > >> MonoTouch mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/monotouch > > > > > > -- > Nic Wise > t. +44 7788 592 806 | @fastchicken | http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicwise > b. http://www.fastchicken.co.nz/ > > mobileAgent (for FreeAgent): get your accounts in your pocket. > http://goo.gl/IuBU > Trip Wallet: Keep track of your budget on the go: http://goo.gl/ePhKa > London Bike App: Find the nearest Boris Bike, and get riding! > http://goo.gl/Icp2 > _______________________________________________ > MonoTouch mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/monotouch -- Nic Wise t. +44 7788 592 806 | @fastchicken | http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicwise b. http://www.fastchicken.co.nz/ mobileAgent (for FreeAgent): get your accounts in your pocket. http://goo.gl/IuBU Trip Wallet: Keep track of your budget on the go: http://goo.gl/ePhKa London Bike App: Find the nearest Boris Bike, and get riding! http://goo.gl/Icp2 -- Nic Wise t. +44 7788 592 806 | @fastchicken | http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicwise b. http://www.fastchicken.co.nz/ mobileAgent (for FreeAgent): get your accounts in your pocket. http://goo.gl/IuBU Trip Wallet: Keep track of your budget on the go: http://goo.gl/ePhKa London Bike App: Find the nearest Boris Bike, and get riding! http://goo.gl/Icp2
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