A judge rejected a settlement that would have granted a $19 Sharper Image coupon to consumers who purchased the Ionic Breeze… and $1.8 million in fees to the lawyers.

A Sharper Image Ionic Breeze costs significantly more than $19.

From Bloomberg:

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga in Miami said today that the settlement, which would have provided consumers with coupons worth $19 to buy Sharper Image products, wasn’t a “fair, adequate and reasonable” resolution of the consumers’ class-action case over the purifiers.

“The proposed settlement, in which class counsel receive close to $2 million in fees and class members are given a $19 coupon, is below the range of recovery in which a settlement of this case may be considered fair,” Altonaga said an order.

The class action lawsuit claimed that the Ionic Breeze didn’t remove dust particles from the air and, well, was just crappy. Sharper Image agreed to settle, but says it can’t afford to pay more than $19 in coupons per consumer. Attorneys general from 35 states object to the proposed settlement, criticizing the proposed coupons as well as the $1.8 million in legal fees.

If you bought one of these machines, would you really want to spend $19 more dollars at The Sharper Image? What can you get for $19? Nose-hair clippers?

Sharper Image’s Settlement Over Purifiers Rejected (Update4) [Bloomberg]

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