Rewind your mind nearly to more than 20 years ago: Do you remember buying a cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitor from a retail business like Best Buy, RadioShack, Costco or Target?
If so, you could be entitled to a payout connected to a class-action settlement filed against some of the biggest electronics brands in the world.
On Tuesday, attorneys involved in a class-action lawsuit against Mitsubishi Electric announced a settlement had been reached with the defendants in the case, with around $33 million set aside to compensate American consumers in around three dozen states who purchased CRT monitors a few decades ago.
The case alleged Mitsubishi engaged in a price-fixing scheme that drove the price of components used for CRT screens integrated in computer monitors, TV screens and other electronics.
Anyone who purchased a TV set, computer monitor or other screen that used CRT technology between March 1, 1995 and November 25, 2007 is eligible to participate in the class-action lawsuit, as long as they purchased the device from a third-party retailer whose store is based in one of several states:
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Washington, D.C.
Eligible third-party retailers include brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Circuit City, CompUSA, Staples, Target, Fry’s Electronics, Sam’s Club, Office Depot, Office Max and others, and includes their online stores if one was available. Customers who purchased CRT-inclusive devices directly from the website or warehouse of a manufacturer aren’t eligible.
There are a few other exceptions to the settlement: Enterprise customers like businesses aren’t included in the class-action settlement if their purchases were made in Missouri, Montana or Rhode Island. All customers who previously submitted a claim connected to settlements reached with other defendants — including LG, Philips, Panasonic, Hitachi, Chungwa, Toshiba, Samsung, Thomson and Technology Displays of America — aren’t eligible for this one (those who already have pending claims in those settlements are automatically submitted in this one).
That said, the new settlement announced this week expands the list of locations where purchases were made, to include purchases in nine states — Arkansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah. And customers who didn’t submit a prior claim but did purchase a monitor from the other defendant brands are still eligible to submit a claim in this settlement.
Customers who believe they are eligible for a payment because they bought electronics with CRT displays in any of the above states and during the time period mentioned can learn more information about the settlement and fill out a claim by clicking or tapping this link.
The deadline to submit a claim for compensation is June 13, 2023.
