The fine print on the settlement information is interesting: 7.5 million dollars is put into a pool, the class action lawyers take 25% (yowza), 80k goes to the person on the complaint, and the rest is split up.

Except, the people in California get 5 times the share that everyone else gets. Why is that? Is it some sort of California-specific penalty or something?

Assuming the lawyers get their 25%, that leaves about $5.5 million left to divvy up. If you assume that 10,000 people from CA file, and 10,000 people from the other states file, you get about $462 in CA, and $92 everywhere else.

It's free money and all that (well, free in the trampled-my-rights sense), but ending up with $93 is sort of a bum deal.

I definately made calls to E-Trade. It doesn't say how much the settlement is, however, so is it really worth the hassle?

@sleze69: Taken from the FAQ:

While the individual settlement amount will depend on the number of claims submitted, the maximum individual settlement amount for a Class Member who was residing in California during the class period is $5,000 and the maximum individual settlement amount for a Class Member who was residing in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, or Washington during the class period is $1,000.

They don't say specifically how much, but that's as close as I saw to an answer.

In order to be part of the class, you have to provide them with A) the telephone numbers you have (or had) during the settlement period, B) all of your ETrade account numbers (could be more than one, if you have different kinds of retirement accounts like a Rollover IRA, SEP-IRA, etc.) and C) your social security number.

I felt a little sick to my stomach typing that last, very personal bit of information into that surely not very secure, designed-by-high-schooler-looking web site of theirs. Ugh.

... and following up with myself (because it's the cool thing for kids to do these days).

I've submitted this kind of information (attached my name, etc.) onto at least a half dozen different class action suits which I've been "eligible" for over the past bunch of years and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. The only thing I ever got out of any class action suit was "Air Scrip" from the airline price collusion thing from more than a decade ago.

In retrospect, the stress on me for the rest of the day from entering in super personal & confidential information onto the "Greenberg Class Action Settlement" site isn't worth the likely lack of any payoff for the suckers like me who typed in this info (not mitigated by the common knowledge that only the litigating law firm gets the bulk of any money handed out). Blah. What an annoying start to my Friday.

Yeah, I don't feel like giving out that much information. Because I know the "settlement" will be a large payout to the law firm. The the plaintiffs will get 10 free trades on Etrade.

The only thing I ever got from a class action lawsuit, was the using the credit card overseas one. I charged something on amazon.uk, and my share of the lawsuit (flat rate) was greater than the amount I charged on my card. double win for me. When I got the letter I thought it was a scam, until I saw the story on the consumerist.

This is asinine.

I'm usually pro consumer protection, but the fact that for whatever technical reason they didn't play the notification does not rise to any significant illegality. It's a bank, everyone that can rub two neurons together knows that banks record phone calls.

Thanks to all the people that are going to file claims though -- I really appreciate having my prices go up to satisfy your desire for petty justice!

The first paragraph of the email they sent out:

"If you reside in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, or Washington and (1) received a telephone call from E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation or its related entities ("E*TRADE") during the period from September 3, 2003, to May 22, 2009, and/ or (2) you made a call to E*TRADE's Beverly Hills, California branch office on August 15 or 16, 2006, and your telephone call was recorded without notice or consent (hereinafter, the "Settlement Class"), you are a Class Member and a proposed class action settlement ("Settlement") could affect your legal rights."

I have no idea if I was called / called E*Trade during this time, but I really don't care if they recorded me or not.

Also from the email, the financials:

"Without admitting liability, the Defendant has agreed to pay a total amount of seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) in settlement (the "Common Fund"). The Common Fund, less any attorneys' fees and costs awarded by the Court to Class Counsel, will be the Settlement Funds. Subject to approval by the Court, eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) from the Settlement Funds will be paid to Representative Plaintiff. If any of the Settlement Funds remain after payment of all claims of Class Members and Representative Plaintiff, such funds will be paid to a charitable organization(s) qualified under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as more fully set forth in the Settlement Agreement and Release."

WOMP

@LINIS: May I also just say, in an unrelated matter, that I love my E*Trade savings account because the rate stays within a generally competitive area and the transfers are awesomely fast. Oh, and I like transferring cash money between accounts from my BlackBerry. That is all.

@LINIS: E*Trade's savings rate is awful right now. It's nearly as low as my credit union's.

Last time I checked it was down to something like 0.90%.

Emigrant Direct also has lightning-fast transfers (by the morning of the next business day) and a rate at or near the top of the leaderboard.

@nonzenze: Completely right on. Why is Consumerist even reporting this stuff? This isn't an example of some evil corporation intentionally cheating customers out of money. At worst, it was a clerical oversight that doesn't really affect anything whatsoever.

I'm dying to know what sort of "damages" this action caused to the people involved in this suit. Let them pay a regulatory fine or something (to the government) and be done with it.

Please leave e-Trade alone! I have an e-Trade credit card with a mostly-full 10K limit and a very reasonable APR. It is the only card I have that has never charged me a fee of any kind including over-the-limit fees. They also have never yet tried to alter the terms of my account, unlike my other cards all of which have jacked up my APRs in the last year.

Long live e-Trade!!