Lawn Mower Class Action about HP ratings

[Oren]

Received a post card in the mail the other day.

It appears a class action about .."misrepresented and overstated the horsepower of their lawn mowers and lawn mower engines. The Defendants deny these claims and they deny they did anything wrong. All of the parties have agreed to settle."

• You can receive Cash: · Up to .00 for each walk-behind lawnmower · Up to .00 for each riding lawnmower

You can receive an extended Warranty:

You can receive these benefits if:

1. You purchased a lawnmower, for your own use, containing an engine with up to 30 horsepower in the United States or Puerto Rico and between January 1, 1994 and April 12, 2010.
2. Either the lawnmower or the engine of the lawnmower was manufactured or sold by a Company listed below.
3. You submit a claim.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

[Jeff The Drunk]

Yep got one of them cards too. Own a 15 horse Deere. I could use an extra 75. No way that thing has 15 horse. Maybe about 10.

[Frank]

I got a card too. Had bought a new Honda last year. Will be nice to get a few bucks in who knows how long from now. Owners get peanuts but law firms collect a bundle.

[George]

Dewey, Cheatum & Howe is doing well on this deal. They agreed to not ask for more than $35.6 Million + interest...

[Nil]

On 10 Apr 2010, Oren wrote in alt.home.repair:

I got one, too. I was wondering if it was legitimate, but I hadn't gotten around to checking into it, yet.

[Kurt Ullman]

I got two (neener neener). Now all I gotta do is get to my in-laws to get the information off the older one.

[Colbyt]

The only ones who are really going to win are the lawyers, but since I bought a rider and a push mower in that time frame, I may take the time to dance through the hoops for $110.00

Colbyt

[aemeijers]

Got one sitting right next to keyboard, addressed to previous owner. Meant to find the owners manual and/or eyeball the mower itself, and get on that web site today. Wonder why I didn't get a card in my name? Or did I forget to register that thing when I bought it right after I moved in?

I've sent in paperwork on several previous class action things like that, but the promised checks never showed up. The amounts were too trivial to waste my time chasing them. I think it is mainly a lawyer employment project, and somehow there are never any funds left over to disburse...

[Pete C.]

>

Certainly these class action suits benefit only the lawyers. The "class" gets a few meager dollars if anything, while the lawyers get millions, and future consumers pay for all of it.

I would also be especially careful to research any of these "class action" postcards to validate that the case is real and can be found on a proper official court site, not just the one the postcard directs you to. I think these "class action" postcards could be an excellent vehicle for identify theft or other fraud.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Pete C." wrote

I've been included in a couple of these over the years. Never got a penny.

[aemeijers]

What the hell- the odds are better than with a lottery ticket, and the price is right- just log onto the web site. I definitely won't give them any account information or SSN or anything. If they claim they need to direct-deposit the money, screw it. $35 ain't worth that risk.

[gfretwell]

I got a nice air nibbler from the Campbell Hausfeld air compressor suit. It was similar to this, lying about HP.

[Kurt Ullman]

My favorite had to do with some idiocy in the contract for the old GTE MobileNet. The lawyers got something like $30 million and I got an ear bud if (and ONLY if) I extended my contract for 3 years. Oh, the Humanity!!!!!!!!

[terry]

Bunch of people looking for handout and worrying about litigation!!!!! Something for free; eh? Wimps? As long as it starts, cuts the grass or whatever, who cares? Any settlement will just be added to the first cost next time someone (us?) buys a mower etc.

More important things going on. And no wonder life is so expensive!

Extra costs, expensive lawyers, expensive credit, weak regulation of everything from mine safety to consumer protection. the only way seems to be to litigate ............... where IS governemnt 'For the people, by the people' when needed?

Rich lobbyists running Washington; no wonder other countries are recovering their economies faster than the USA where the poorly regulated credit and funny-money problems started. "Can anyone spell Enron, Madeoff, ING, GMC etc.".

Of course I never buy a new mower anyway. Fix one up; swap motors, sharpen the blade. Change a rusted out base etc. etc.

Last time we bought a 'new' mower, for example was, in the 1980s. IIRC. Making a local news group deal this morning for an older mower with a rusted base; we have a good base (or two). Probably fix it up and give it to son or son in law. My old mower now using the motor of my neighbour's old one.

BTW this a a home repair (and associated topics) news group; eh?

[Ralph Mowery]

People do want what they pay for. As almost no one can test the products they buy , they must rely on the lable. While it is horsepower of the mower, how would you like it if your paycheck was rated like the mowers horsepower. Or beter yet, some computer speakers. I have seen some rted at

50 watts an powered by a wall cube. Open them up and you will see 2 watts written on the speaker. I gave up on the computers a while back when AMD started rating their chips in what speed they run like compaired to Intel instead of the true speed.

If the companies would quit screwing over the consumer, the lawsuits would stop.

[dpb]

Ralph Mowery wrote: ...

Wishful thinking as long as there's a lawyer around to dream up a class action bonanza they'll find _something_ to file over... :(

--

[Jon Danniken]

Not free, the cost gets passed to the consumers buying the next x number of years worth of mowers.

Jon

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I got one of these postcards too. I haven't yet decided whether to do anything about it.

I got a $75 credit from Toshiba in connection with the cracked-hinge problem on a particular series of their notebook computers. I used the credit to buy an external drive, but of course the credit was against "list price," which was considerably more than I might have paid at Best Buy, Staples, etc. I think I did OK, but the "net value" was significantly less than the $75.

(I do think that [a] allowing lawyers to take cases on a contingency basis and [b] absolving plaintiffs of the responsibility for defendants' costs if the plaintiffs lose are major flaws in the legal system.)

Perce

[KC]

The card states that the mower must have been bought after 1/1/1994, but the claim form does not ask for a purchase date. My first thought was that the mower & engine model # would indicate the manufactured date. But then as I read further, the manufacturers are just throwing a fixed sum of money in the pot and apparently don't care about the details. That leaves the lawyers to nitpick the claims to get as much for themselves as possible. As others have said, we probably won't see any money, but 'may' see a benefit of an extended warranty from some the engine manufacturers.

KC

[Ashton Crusher]

Well this was timely since my lawnmower just thru a rod thru the "block" this afternoon. Must have been because it didn't really have the 4.5 hp the label said it has.