Back in 2015, we shared the news that people who had recently purchased cans of Starkist tuna could file claims in a class action lawsuit against the company that alleged the company deliberately under-filled tuna cans. Those consumers still don’t have their payments, which were to be either checks or vouchers for free tuna.
Unfortunately, the legal system does not move as quickly as readers’ hunger for tuna. In an update just over a year ago, we said that plaintiffs’ tuna or checks might show up by the end of the year, as the two sides worked on a final settlement.
After they finally reached that settlement, and the judge approved it, there were multiple appeals filed in the case, which the attorneys handling the case say could delay class members payments by months or years.
Prepare for further disappointment: So many people filed claims in this lawsuit that it cut each person’s payment by a lot. That’s because the entire settlement was for a fixed amount of money, not a fixed amount of money per class member.
In this lawsuit, there would only be $8,000,000 for cash payments and $4,000,000 for vouchers, which came out to $25 in cash or $50 in tuna based on the number of people that the attorneys expected to file claims. Then 2.5 million people filed claims.
Whenever your payment finally shows up — and we can’t predict when that will happen — it will be for $2.19 if you opted to receive cash, and $4.43 if you opted to receive tuna vouchers.
The original complaint in this case was filed in 2013. Justice, even under-filled tuna can justice, is not swift.
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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