As an Adwords customer, what does this settlement mean to you?
Some excepts from the settlement document which can be found here: Google Adwords Class Action Settlement Document
Who qualifies:
ALL PERSONS OR ENTITIES RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES WHO HAVE PAID GOOGLE FOR ADVERTISING PURSUANT TO GOOGLE’S ADWORDS PROGRAM WHO (A) BECAME ADWORDS ADVERTISERS BETWEEN JUNE 1, 2005 AND FEBRUARY 28, 2009, INCLUSIVE, AND WHO WERE CHARGED MORE THAN THEIR PER DAY DAILY BUDGET ON ANY DAY DURING THAT TIME PERIOD; OR (B) PAUSED THEIR ADWORDS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS ON ANY DAY DURING THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1, 2002 TO FEBRUARY 28, 2009, INCLUSIVE, AND DURING THE SAME BILLING PERIOD WHEN THEIR ADWORDS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS WERE PAUSED, WERE CHARGED MORE THAN THE PRODUCT OF THEIR PER DAY DAILY BUDGET TIMES THE NUMBER OF DAYS THAT SUCH CLASS MEMBERS’ ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS WERE NOT PAUSED DURING THAT BILLING PERIOD
Distribution of the settlement:
1. The $20,000,000 settlement and the interest earned thereon are the “Settlement Proceeds.”
2. Upon final approval of the settlement by the Court and the satisfaction of the other conditions to the effectiveness of the Settlement, the Settlement Proceeds will be allocated under the Court’s direction and supervision, as follows:
a. To pay the fees, expenses, and costs of Representative Plaintiffs’ Counsel as and to the extent allowed by the Court;
b. To pay an incentive compensation award to each Representative Plaintiff to the extent allowed by the Court, and
c. To pay all costs and expenses reasonably incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of tax returns and the payment of taxes on the interest earned on the Settlement Proceeds, including all taxes and tax expenses.
3. Subject to the approval by the Court of the Plan of Allocation described below, the balance of the Settlement Proceeds remaining after the payment of the foregoing fees, costs, expenses and taxes (the “Net Settlement Proceeds”) shall be distributed in the form of cash or AdWords Credits as set forth below, to Class members who have not requested exclusion from the class in accordance with the instructions contained in this Notice. The following methodology shall be used to calculate the distribution to each Class member:
(Class Member’s Total Overcharges) x (Net Settlement Proceeds)
the sum total of Estimate of all Class Members’ Total Overcharges
a. “Net Settlement Proceeds” means the remaining balance of the Settlement Proceeds, including all interest earned thereon, following payment of any Fee and Expense Award as allowed by the Court.
b. “17200 Overcharge” means the dollar amount that a Class Member, who signed up for AdWords between June 1, 2005, and February 28, 2009, was charged by Google in excess of his, her, or its per day Daily Budget, the first month such overcharge occurred.
c. “Overcharge” means to charge an AdWords Advertiser more than his, her, or its per day Daily Budget on any given day.
d. “Pausing Overcharge” means the dollar amount that Google charged a Class Member, who paused his, her, or its campaign for any amount of time in a billing period, in excess of the product of the Class Member’s per day Daily Budget times the number of days that the campaign was not paused during the same billing period, at any time during the period between January 1, 2002, and February 28, 2009, inclusive.
e. “Total Overcharges” means, for each Class Member, the sum of his, her, or its 17200 Overcharges and Pausing Overcharges, less any Overcharges that are duplicative of the Pausing Overcharges.
f. “Claims Administrator” means Gilardi & Co. LLC.
g. For each Class Member who has a balance due on his, her, or its AdWords account as of the Class Member Distribution Calculation Date that is equal to or greater than that Class Member’s Distribution (defined as “Active AdWords Advertisers”), Google will issue AdWords Credits in the amount of such Class Member’s Distribution within ten business days of the Class Member Distribution Calculation Date. At the time of distribution, Google will notify each Class Member who is an Active AdWords Advertiser who has a balance due on his, her, or its AdWords account as of the Class Member Distribution Calculation Date that is less than such Class Member’s Distribution that they may elect to receive cash in lieu of AdWords Credits by contacting Google via email. To make such an election, the Active AdWords Advertiser must notify the Claims Administrator within forty days of the Class Member Calculation Date via email or in writing, including the following information: (1) name of Class Member; (2) AdWords account(s) number; (3) email address associated with AdWords account; (4) mailing address. The request must be emailed to the Claims Administrator at the following email address:
(The following link is no longer up and working) claims@adwordscustomersettlement.com , or sent to the Claims Administrator at the following address:
CLRB Hanson LLC et al. v. Google Class Action Settlement
c/o Gilardi & Co. LLC P.O. Box 808054
Petaluma, CA. 94975-8054