Business News
De Beers Settles Diamond Class Action Lawsuit To Pay $135 Million to Consumers
Atlanta, GA 1/23/2008 04:52 PM GMT (FINDITT)
DeBeers
has recently settled a class action lawsuit claiming the distributing
giant engaged in price fixing and monopolizing the industry.
De Beers will now pay out $135 million to
customers who bought diamonds. The South African mining conglomerate
controls 40 percent of the world's diamond trade.
The claim applies to diamonds purchased between
January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006. Customers can join in on the civil
action lawsuit if their diamonds were purchased during the
aforementioned dates and if they have a valid receipt of purchase.
Due
to the lack of information about where diamonds originated from, it
seems many people are able to join into the civil action lawsuit
without much proof that it is linked to De Beers.
Buyers can get back as much as 32% for items between $1,000 and $5,000 in price.
Items valued higher will receive a higher percentage back, but DeBeers has a cap on the amount it ultimately will dish out.
$295
million is the total amount of the settlement, which is equivalent to
approximately six months of the company's earnings. $135 million is
allocated to customers, while the remaining amount will go to jewelry
stores.
Due to the set amount of allocated funds, a large amount
of people filing a claim will result in less money available to pay
out. Some estimate that customers could get anywhere from 50 cents to
$2.00 back, while others think it could be hundreds of dollars returned
to individuals.
Diamond buyers have until May 19 to file a claim by going to
http://www.DiamondsClassAction.com.
https://diamondsclassaction.com/
http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=34090&cat=1
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