Hurkes Harris Design Associates, Inc. v Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.
Fujitsu Settles Nationwide Faulty Hard Drive Action for $42.5 Million
The parties have reached a tentative $42.5 million nationwide settlement in a class action filed against Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, and Gateway, Inc. on behalf of consumers who purchased Fujitsu MPG3 series and MPF3 series hard drives. The action alleged that the drives used a defectively designed Cirrus controller chip that caused many of the drives to fail unexpectedly. Owners of affected drives need do nothing at the present time to remain eligible to participate in the settlement.
Under the terms of the settlement, users who purchased the Fujitsu drives either as a boxed product or in computers from Hewlett-Packard or Gateway will receive up to $45 per hard drive if they have documentation showing they incurred expenses in replacing the Fujitsu drive. Users who currently have a MPG3 series or MPF3 series Fujitsu drive and wish to replace it are also eligible to participate. Users who lost data due to a faulty hard drive and can demonstrate they incurred costs in trying to recover that data can receive up to $1,200 or the cost of the recovery, whichever is less.
The settlement covers all Fujitsu brand PB-15H hard disk drives, also referred to as the MPF3xxx-AH series of hard disk drives, and PB-16 hard disk drives (referred to as the MPG3xxx series of hard disk drives), including all drive models bearing a model number composed of or starting with the sequence of MPF3102AH, MPF3153AH, MPF3204AH, MPG3102, MPG3153, MPT3204, MPG3307, or MPG3409, which may be followed by alphabetical characters. The hard disk drives were sold in the United States beginning in 2000.
Users must retain their Fujitsu hard disk drives if at all possible, and must retain proof of purchase of any replacement hard disk drives. Receipts for any data recovery services must be retained in order to be able to recover costs for the services rendered. If you have not received mailed or e-mailed notice of this settlement, you must register with the Settlement Administrator in order to receive future notices, including the claim form you will need to claim benefits if the settlement is approved. You can register by calling 1-800-878-2618, registering on-line at www.hddclassactionsettlement.com, or writing to the settlement administrator at:
HDD Class Action Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 9000 # 6146
Merrick, New York 11566-9000.
The settlement will not be effective until the court grants it final approval. The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for March 2, 2004.
