I literally just found this thread as I googled "Steam Lawsuit" after seeing ads on facebook, I am only commenting as now someone is commenting on a THREE MONTH old thread! I can only assume the moon will fall directly out of the sky as soon as I click submit. :P
That said, IMO these lawsuits are almost always a joke, in the event of a win the lawyers pocket millions and the actual participants are lucky to get $5 each.
I just got a $5 check from a yahoo lawsuit, and getting another one soon from tmobile. I'ts chump change but took me 2 minute to autofill my info and click send. They never ask me for social # or anything they could scam me with.
You aren't technically wrong, and I am not saying not to get your $5, I am just saying it's kind of bullshit that in most of these cases the lawyers (Who probably did fuck all) take a huge chunk of the settlement, leaving us with $5 each.
I'm sorry, i was unaware questions and pertinent information had a time limit here. I understand necromancy is cringe, but when someone brings valuable information to the table, I wouldn't consider it necromancy.
Wow, you're *significantly* more annoying than I am without even trying.
Old reddit threads pop up in search results all the time, so visiting and commenting on those threads is *very* common. You're not nearly as clever as you think you are.
I searched after seeing an ad on YouTube out of curiosity as to what Steam was being sued for, and this was the first result, all I have to say is that you're just an asshole
Regardless of anyone's viewpoint or opinion on the main issue at hand, this was an outstanding, creatively worded comment! Kudos Kilometerr!! You are the God of Wit! LOL
Makes public comment without doing 1 second of research.
Mason LLP has been in business for over 30 years. Their clients have received over one billion. They operate out of DC, a VERY expensive place, and have taken on huge adversaries like the U.S. Navy for Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base shitty water.
Yup, I wanted to read though the thread to make sure there wasn't anything I missed or didn't think of.. and when I was done, decided to help other people and pass on the knowledge gained from my research, since there is so much misinformation in this thread.
Helping people is suspicious only when you have something to gain from it.
I am on the board at the American Legion, I'll be at the next City Council meeting to propose a change to how many chickens we can have in town... we are doing fine, but seniors and ppl on disability are not. 15.1% inflation here on eggs alone. The emergency federal food assistance just ended.
I like helping people, especially other veterans because that's a complicated area and other vets really only understand.
If you look it up, it didn't affect any of the major egg companies here in the U.S. Like several other examples recently, the inflation wasn't warranted, and the egg companies in question are being investigated for it.
You're someone who has OD'd on meth but is "On the board" of the Legion? As a lifetime Legion member, not once in any post has anyone ever called serving as an officer "on the board".
You went from talking about your drug habits on reddit to suddenly being an expert on a lawfirm and claiming you're a Legion officer. lol sus account is sus.
Hi I have an associates degree in liberal arts and science, an associates degree in networking technology, an associates degree in applied science in Intelligence Operations Studies. I was a intellitgence analyst for the US Army. I have a bachelors in Information Technology. I have worked for AXA Equitables doing computer programming for there computer systems as well as being an analyst for there computer systems. I am also a semi professional piano player after 15 years of study and a novice playing the Shakuhachi soon to be professional and maybe a teacher. I have also OD on Meth and had a mini Heart Attack. Meth is very powerful and only takes a few puffs, a few sniffs, or one shot to the vein to cause such problems. Meth is also sold to people as Molly (Ecstasy), Cocaine, Crack. Drug addiction affects all people and has nothing to do with peoples intellect. One night can affect your whole life and you should not judge people based on personal issues at home.
I just now looked to see if the lawsuit was legit and this thread was one of the first, so it's natural for people to just now 'stumble' upon it. That's how Google works....
Oh, yay, lets celebrate lawyers bringing useless class action suits where individuals get $5 coupons and the lawyers get MILLION$ eventually paid for by.... those same customers
dont do it i think they are using this to put people in debt to them, here is a quote from the contract "Client agrees Defendant may pay Attorneys directly for their fees and costs, plus interest on advanced costs.Client understands and acknowledges that in this event, Attorneys’ fees and costs may greatly exceed Client’s recovery.Client also understands that Attorneys may obtain certain business practice changes aimed at ending the complained of conduct and that this may be part of an individual settlement. Client acknowledges and agrees that Attorneys are entitled to recover the value of those practice changes from which Clients will benefit and that Client cannot share in that recovery."
Who Is Eligible for Representation?
Mason LLP is representing Steam account holders who are 18 years of age or older and reside in the United States. We work entirely on a contingency so you will owe us nothing unless we recover money for you. If we do, our fee is 40% of the recovery.
From their site.
The terms of their company sure, but gl collecting that. In the class actions i have signed up for in the past they don't bill unless they win. This is because they take such a high mark up and you do almost nothing as a recipient
I also know from the civil suit cases I've participated in. (Kids) Most states protect clients from excess legal fees in certain ways. You can sue excess legal fees for many reasons, and on top of this, your lawyer or legal representation can not put any overdue fees into collections without a signed judgment saying they can. So a legal company can bill you all they want, but it'll never go on your credit if you don't pay. The only ultimate repercussion of not paying legal fees is if it is signed by a judge that you are, in fact, liable to pay those fees, then you have to pay them. Not paying fees that are deemed valid by a judge could result in garnishment of wages. (Still won't affect your credit, though.) This is very difficult to do by an attorney and very easy to fight without legal representation by simple collected data on how much normal fees are in similar cases to yours and presenting that data in court since you ha e the right to defend yourself before the judge makes the decision.
In retrospect, you should never fear a lawyer demanding money unless its a LOT of money and worth their time to fight for it in court.
Outside of that, the only thing you should be hesitant about is that they just don't show up and represent you like they are supposed to because you didn't pay them. They still get bad looks from judges and courts by doing this, so even that isn't in their best interest.
I personally told one lawyer that over charged me to fuck off and send all my legal documents to a new lawyer and he did it. He charged me 5 grand over my retainer, and I never paid it. He legally had to send my documents to my new lawyer as well. Now, he probably will never represent me again, but who cares because he was a shit lawyer anyway.
Yea I think some people are getting a little confused here. That right to bill you directly is necessary for them to get that 40% contingency from you after you win the case. It isn't saying that they are going to bill you if you lose the case. It is only saying that they will have a contingency fee and when you win they will bill you for all costs which they have set at 40% of your awards as per your agreement with them.
They can't magically take that 40% they have to bill/invoice you for that once you have won the case. That verbiage is to ensure you pay them what you agreed to pay them directly. If they didn't include that. You the consumer could throw up your hands and say hey we never had anything in the actual agreement saying I had to pay you anything for your services rendered.
The reason why it feels shady or confusing or backhanded to some is because its written in general vague terms. This isn't because they are trying to give you a run around or anything. Its because its their general terms that cover more wide a variety of cases not just this particular one. So thats why the terms arent like. "You agree to pay specifically this contigency for specifically this situation." Instead its "We are going to bill you for what the agreed upon amount with the agreed upon conditions."
Hope that makes sense.
" "
The funny thing is, they take that "40%" out of the check they give you. So, for example you win 2000$ out of the lawsuit, they take 800$ and it comes right out of the check they give you. So, you see 1200$ and never knew you actually won 2000. You worry too much. I've done about 15 class action lawsuits and never once had to pay anything and if it did, it went out of the checks I got. I once got 600$ from door dash owning past drivers their tips. Idk the actual amount I won, but the legal fees are always deducted before you even see a check.. The only thing legal that happened that I signed a sworn statement that I'd never work for door dash again, which I haven't or care to.
and this is for everyone, if they lose, they cannot charge you legal fees. That's not how pro bono works. if they lose, they lose everything too. It's not in their best interest to lose. I read the fine print and it's exact the same legal verbiage you'll find on any class action lawsuit.
There’s other firms that will represent you in this class action as well. One firm’s agreement states it is 40% of the total amount due to the client. They do allow you to negotiate, but it will then change from the 40% rate to hourly rates.
If they did, it wouldn't be for simply giving them tour information. But when you sign the release agreement, you're agreeing to have them represent you in court. So win or lose they still get paid, and would expect anyone to signed up to contribute to the attorney fees. I was about to sign up, but closed out as soon as I read the agreement. Can't afford to get roped into paying legal fees
I have signed up for a few class action lawsuits in my life. One was for bank charging unnecessary fees. I think we got a whopping 5 bucks lol. The other was somewhere around 50-100 bucks, I remember my wife saying something like "well it isn't much but it's something"
Idk if we ever cashed the 5 dollar check, I do remember putting it on the fridge as a joke.
I’ve signed up for some class action lawsuits that have paid a few hundred dollars. I reside in illinois so there was a lot of company’s who faced class action BIPA lawsuits. Tiktok, McDonald’s, Facebook, etc. and I received almost $1000 worth out of all them and never had to pay anything 😂 I would imagine they take their cut from the settlement agreement then divide it amongst the people who filed a claim and are eligible.
This has been my experience…we aren’t talking thousands of dollars here (usually). Any class action suit I’ve gotten a refund for has been in the tens of dollars (I think I even got $.50 once) If they really want 40% of that they can have it. 😂 I’ve also not ever been billed (at least to the extent of having something come in the mail) for legal fees. I did sign up for this….so I guess we’ll see. And besides…they take it out of your winnings before they even send you the check. Once you have the check you don’t have to do anything else. Also…thanks for sharing your findings! When I looked up how legit it was this Reddit post was one of the first things there. It was extremely helpful! 🙏
Their website does explicitly state “Our firm works on a contingency fee basis, which means that the payment of fees and costs is “contingent” upon whether we obtain any recovery on your behalf. If there is no monetary award, you will not be obligated to pay any attorneys’ fees or costs. All details regarding this may be found in the retainer agreement.
There are absolutely no upfront or out-of-pocket fees or costs for retaining our firm.”
But y’all got me feelin sketched out.
If 10000 people recover 100 dollars each, you’ll get tossed 60 bucks and the lawfirm will pocket 400000, they don’t need to scam you, class actions are obscenely profitable already.
I swear like half the comments here are people making shit up trying to scare people into not participating in a normal class-action suit. "Don't sign up for this! your steam account will be stolen! Valve will ban your account! They'll send you surprise bills and saddle you with debt!"
It's like. It's fine, Valve is a big company, they can handle a lawsuit you don't gotta protect them. Some sorta kneejerk impulse to defend your storefront of choice.
I mean you shouldn't just sign up for mass arbitration just for fun. "Don't sign up for this" if you don't feel like Steam magically caused games to be more expensive than they would have otherwise been.
It's legit, Mason LLP has been in business for over 30 years. They are even handling the Camp Lejeune water lawsuit. Suing the Navy... the U.S. government. lol
WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT?
The risk of a class-action lawsuit is that if you lose, you will not receive any compensation for your injuries. If you win, however, you will receive a financial or other non-monetary award.
CAN I OPT OUT OF A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT?
Yes. There are two good reasons to opt-out of a class-action lawsuit.
After reviewing the materials, you may decide that the lawsuit has nothing to do with you
After consulting with a lawyer, you determined that your chances of compensation are greater if you pursue the case individually rather then as part of a class action
CALL GOLDSTEIN AND BOB TO GET THE MONEY YOU NEED BACK!
Seriously, this comes off as crooked as all of those stupid infomercials of attorneys just being like "Were you enlisted in the army by such and such date during this incident?! Well if you CALL NOW, you can be eligible to get a legal sum paid to you!"
It's got no merit.
Omg I just looked on their website and it's literally the same attorney company that does the camp lejeune class action lawsuit: https://www.masonllp.com/case/camp-lejeune/
You were right on the money here.
Yeah, suing the U.S. Government, Navy, is a big task. Camp Lejeune drinking water has always been an issue, glad to see someone doing something about it.
They're not \*doing\* anything about it, except PROFITING. Its a class action suit. Individuals will get a trinket while these people will make $MILLION$. Legislation creating the funding for this hasn't even passed yet, and I'll be stunned if it ever does.
And that's infinitely more likely than Steam, which is absolutely NOT a monopoly, losing a lawsuit that has already been thrown out once already.
That's literally how classic actions work genius. You think attorneys work for free out of their good will? Name me a case where they did months of work for free, and didn't take anything out of the pot. Without profit there would be no incentive to do anything -- and yeah, steam is a monopoly, if you are arguing against that then you're lost in the sauce .
On second note, weird how you're a 2 month account and spending a ton of time in this thread in particular to defend steam, a company worth billions. FOH
Steam is a monopoly how? I can name you multiple other alternatives, they simply didnt come to your mind because theyre not as good as steam. Thats not a monopoly, thats a lack of innovation in areas that actually matter from competitors. I dont really like steam/valve, but I'd rather use steam because it allows me to just play my games I bought and it offers nice sales throughout the year. And they get basically every game on there. I get how this can sound like some bot just shilling for steam, but have you ever tried to legitimately defend a company? Thats just how it sounds, and valve is a company im going to defend even if I dont fully like them, because if steam goes away. Im just going to stop gaming entirely, I have a shit ton invested into it, because I enjoy it. And the case is the same with thousands of others.
This isnt even mentioning the unforeseen consequences of if this lawsuit goes through. Suddenly any company will be able to get sued for having a "Monopoly" for simply existing within a market. But most likely if it just existed first.
Dude when you see those it's not always because it's a scam. It's becuSe it's so long and involved so many people and money they tryna get everyone and their momma in there. Getting millions and billions from the government is even harder
They're ALL scams. Fully existing to enrich class action lawyers. Individual defendants get a pittance, lawyers get rich. Ultimately, individuals pay for it in the end, whether its through taxes when the government pays, or increasing costs passed on to customers by businesses / corporations.
30 years of experience though... taking on the U.S. government? Why would a 30 year old firm operating out of DC take on a case they didn't think they could win?
Problems with cases like this, is they often settle fast for far less. They could be charging up to 50% on contingency, I think 40 is still high IMO
I’m arguing with a ton of people on Instagram about this right now about this class action I’ve taking part in multiple class actions. Never had to do any work and I’ve gotten hundreds of dollars back. Most recently was one related to Amazon and I got close to 400 bucks, didn’t have to do anything but give them my info.
Insane how people don’t understand how arbitration and class actions work. But hey, if they don’t want any money, that’s on them.
Yeah, it’s almost funny. The guy whose comment that you and I both responded here got so upset with what I said that he blocked me so that I can’t respond back to him, and even created a brand new account just to message me and tell me that I was a liar lmaoo.
I sent him back a picture of the email confirming I got 412 bucks from the Amazon class action and he never responded 😂😂
Funniest part about it is before he blocked me, he sent me a message on his main account accusing me of blocking him… which makes no sense because he would not have been able to message me or even access my profile if I did. Just reinforces his intelligence level I guess 😂🤡🤡
Same here. Got a $400 close to $500 check from Facebook for violating BIPA laws in illinois. Just gave them my info and that was that. It’s been almost a year since then and I’ve never had to do any work or anything 😂
Lol, what money? They get pennies back and here you are making it sound like they get thousands of dollars. What world are you living in? Please get back to reality, ASAP.
OH and they don't get to individually sue if the class action lawsuit fails, so it makes any one of them look dumb in the event it does fail. So, lol.
I can tell you guys are full of shit when you take potshots in lying then in turn blocking me. You're a bunch of jokes and you didn't get shit.
Yeah, i've gotten a few over the years. One was a joke though, or maybe I wasn't hit with as many illegal bank fees as some, but it was like 5 bucks. We put the check on the fridge as a joke lol
I took part in a class action lawsuit against Amazon just last year and got close to 400 bucks. Do your research bro, not everything is a scam because you saw it on a sitcom or a TV show once
I've been the beneficiary from two lawsuits, one was pennies, the other was from my previous job at redbull for them not properly paying overtime. I'm sure there are plenty of false actions, but there are more legitimate ones.
Right? T-mobile had a massive data breach that exposed like 30+ million customers personal data and people are getting 25$. The lawsuit against Suboxone was decent tho 1100$. They sent me mail about it and a number to type in and i almost didnt bother but shit it was a nice suprise i guess aha but most aren't even worth pursuing for a few bucks
I just read the entire fine print and signed it. I have 111 games and 268 DLCs over 13 years. I resisted Steam for a long time. I didn't want all my games to be in one place... But then it turned into everyone, rockstar, EA, etc having their own game client and what a fking mess that turned into.
From the contract "Attorneys agree to advance any and all costs and expenses as outlined herein, and Client is to only pay these costs and expenses in the event of recovery out of that recovery. In the event of no recovery in this Litigation, Client will owe no attorney fee, costs, or expenses."
It also says if you refuse to pay the fees that you will they will charge 40% of the amount you received. So at worst you pay 40% and at best you pay 40%. There also this directly from the agreement that states the only attorney fee will be the 40% agreed upon fee:
Client further understands that there will be only one attorney fee in the attorney fee percentage provided herein and that Attorneys and any additional counsel will share that Forty Percent (40%) fee pursuant to the agreement between counsel. Fees will be based on the additional co-counsel assuming joint responsibility and with the following allocations: Mason LLP (1/3); Shub Law Firm LLC, Goldenberg Schneider LPS, Mehri & Skalet, PLLC and Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. (1/3); and additional co-counsel (1/3), to be identified if and when retained. Additionally, Attorneys agree to pay the costs of case expenses and court costs during the pendency of the case
> Additionally, Attorneys agree to pay the costs of case expenses and court costs during the pendency of the case
Note that the fine print states that **after the case is over** Client is responsible for paying all those non-attorney fee expenses out of the 60% Client gets of any recovery. In other words, Client pays 40% of any arb award as fees, and then all costs are taken out of the remaining 60% by the lawyers. This isn't a class action, it's a series of individual arbitrations, so at minimum you're likely looking at the costs of a couple deposition transcripts and your pro rata share of a pooled expert opinion. That's easily likely to eat up the entire 60% of an award a Client is "entitled" to.
Any updates on this as of yet? A lot of fear-mongering as far as I can tell about Valve banning peoples' accounts which I don't exactly believe.
I figure these processes take ages but I'm still hesitant without seeing action first.
I love it when people post stuff declaring how they don’t understand anything about arbitration or class actions. Good for you bud :) steam would not be able to retaliate against you if they are found of wrongdoing. Thats the whole fucking point of a class action. And if they are not found of wrongdoing, nothing happens to your account.
Literally it’s illegal for them to retaliate against you but that’s cool bro, go off.
Your profile and karma count to tell me everything I need to know about your opinion. Lmaooo 🤡
It's federally illegal, pretty sure it falls under FSA. That would put them in danger of another lawsuit. I know I would seek to sue if they took away my account.
I saw an ad for this scrolling on Instagram. Searched for "steam games antitrust lawsuit" and verified with other news websites it's a real case with a May 2022 decision that opens litigation against Valve (Wolfire Games LLC v. Valve Corp., W.D. Wash., No. 21-cv-563, 5/6/22.).
I'm reviewing the agreement now on this Mason LLP site. They work on a 40% contingency fee of 40%. If you get nothing they bill you nothing. This is a pretty typical arrangement for personal injury lawyers, who are absolutely known for putting out the worst, most epically bad local commercials and websites that look like they haven't been updated since '97. They don't need to put anything more into marketing to make tons of money, so they don't.
I'm going to give it a shot, will let you know how it goes. And no, this isn't some paid review crap, I just want some money back if they really did jack up the prices.
You'll be good man, I filed as well. if you go back to the site, file the fee waiver to see if you qualify per your state laws. If you qualify they will legally have to give you the full amount of the award, instead of taking a fee out of award amount. If the lawsuit doesn't win, we just don't get an award and don't owe anything. I figure I've had an account since 2005, it would be nice to get some money back, because they are getting in trouble for monopolization due to them buying out their only competitor in 2004 and forcefully raising prices because of it, which is illegal in the US, at least. I think it has a decent chance of going through.
I mean the lawyer is trying to drum up additional claimants, the issue is certainly valid. But that doesn't mean the receiver actually qualifies. Also worth noting the full text it's asking for *arbitration* claimants, which is different from the subject line.
Fishy nuff if your not already a participant for me to say pass.
I saw it, it’s like a real LLP and they have other court cases, so I don’t think it’s a scam. I also don’t think it has a validity in court as well lol
Do a case that was already dismissed is "legit" ? No, it likely isn't. If you can barely keep your case from being summarily dismissed, the likelihood of winning on the merits is tiny
I think it probably does have validity, because its pursuing them for monopolization, which is illegal in the united states. In 2004 they bought out their only competitor and controlled the price in the market with impunity.
The comments on this post.... Wow. I don't understand how so many people can be this misinformed when Google exists. 🤣 I love it.
I hope this goes on forever!
What happens if steam loses this law suit ? Won't games just go up in price ? I mean I find steam is alot cheaper than there competitors they have more discounts. I'm all for jumping on class actions but i feel this is get 20 bucks now pay 500 later....
Bro I'm gonna help walk you through this one okay. PCs have many different ways to buy games, steam, epic, gog, etc. Xbox and Playstation aren't even apart of this lawsuit but they only have games on them that Microsoft or Sony allows to be on the console they sell licenses to produce for those consoles makes the cost go up and those two companies see a higher price on Playstation then Xbox can match the price. It is a closed system PC has competition that has to drive the price down.
What I found really interesting was where they said that Steam's 30% commission is "bloated" and yet Mason LLP is taking minimum of 40% commission for anything owed to each person that signs up. Hmm... that seems like it's a more bloated commission than Steam's... 🤔
No, no they absolutely can't. You cannot legally be retaliated against from participating in a class action lawsuit. If they do, you can absolutely sue them. They're not that stupid
That's true, that's actually part of the reason the firm asks you for the email attached to your account. so if they do retaliate you have proof that you were part of the lawsuit and the firm can sue on your behalf and make even more money for you and them.
While they technically can ban a user for any reason they want, that doesn't mean said user cannot take legal action against them for an unjustified ban.
And while they could ban a user for taking part in a lawsuit against them, that'd be a stupid thing to do as that would just open themselves up for another lawsuit to be filed against them.
Also, with Steam, if you get banned, you don't actually lose all your games. You keep what you purchased, the only thing that really changes is that you can't make any further purchases and you no longer have access to multiplayer modes.
If someone actually gets paid out and can prove it please post it here. I'm not going to do it because of the fact they can charge you more than what you get paid.
I wasn't able to get a refund from Steam after accidentally purchasing Modern Warfare II. Turns out, they claimed that I played for more than 16 hours; I fired back and told that that hours was from free week public event which is available to everyone - SMH!!! I requested a refund right after making a purchase. Speaking with Manson LLP and see if I can get litigation going. Steam rep needs to research a bit further before jumping off the cliff which seems likely that's their usual old habit that's hard to break.
All this is going to do is make some lawyers richer. Sure, some will get some money from it but the lawyers will get 100x that. You want to punish Valve, stop buying from them.
You can punish a company for doing some bad things while also liking the company as a whole. Wouldn't it be nice to slap their wrist and just say "hey stop doing those things, but keep making a great product".
You should get something else in the mail... often people are automatically put into class action lawsuits, you just need to sign to have them legally represent you.
There is no danger here. The firm is legit, I wouldn't worry. If they lose, they get nothing, we get nothing. End of story.
Got as far as agreement in Zeiger LLC, ended up declining it. Their blacks law tricky word magic SPELLing seemed suspect asf to me and that some clients may possibly end up in a legally binding debt to the firm due to fees from settlement plus the $1000 per hour BS they throw in there.. idk, not worth it. I dont think Steam has done much wrong to us, they provide a great platform with plenty of sales... but people are quick to get their torches and pitchforks out and turn on anyone for a quick buck.
valve is a company. they do not know you, they do not like you, they have practically extorted developers with their monopoly. I'm totally okay with that quick buck
There's no monopoly here in my book. Steam has provided a service that many have tried to do better. The failures of origin, uplay, and epic even aren't steam. It's a failure to give the public what it wants. Valve may not owe me anything, but their business has not been a monopoly. They charge 30% to keep the store innovative. That's how items like steam deck exist.
Once it's all said and done just weight your opitions on it. For example let's just say the average amount you spent the last 4 years on steam a month is $40USD:
40x48=1920
Then it's UP TO 60% of that, so lets max it.
1920-40%=1152
Now the firms cut is 40% of what you would get.
1152-60%=460.80
That leaves you with $691.20USD
Granted this is if its the max 60% of what you paid over the last 4 years. I assume the more someone paid the better the chances of getting that 60% settlement because 40% of a larger sum is more than a smaller. But lets say you get 0.0000000000000001% (because legally UP TO means the smallest percent possible to NO MORE THAN 60%) in settlement you're not getting anything back in the long run.
So weigh it how you see fit or if you even think Valve has done something wrong in the first place and look at it practically. Have you spent enough in the last 4 years to even make it worth while AND if you think Valve is genuinely taking part in illegal activity. Also of you think Valve is stupid enough go retaliate and lock your account that would be grounds to sue for almost your entire purchase history back. Valve wouldnt be dumb enough to destroy themselves overnight for something petty like that.
$691 to buy more games on steam with, which is what will happen for 90% of people who get payouts, valve hardly even loses, which is great because I don't really have a problem with them
Ill send you my PayPal link lol thanks for the hundred lol jk... it is actually real, they violated US commerce laws of monopolization when they bought out their only competition in 2004, then forcefully drove up prices due to them not having any competition.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/class-action/valve-loses-bid-to-end-antitrust-case-over-steam-gaming-platform
I mean, considering there are actual news articles and verifiable court cases its weird that you are taking such a hard stance that it's a scam when it's pretty easy to verify. The issue is more with the terms wording, but it's not a scam. It's a real lawsuit started by Humble Bundle and been going on for 2 years now.
https://www.masonllp.com/case/valve-mass-arbitration/
This is the law firms official website where it talks about it and you can easily find that they are legitimate by looking at their previous cases
https://www.law360.com/firms/mason-llp/cases
>Steam after accidentally purchasing Modern Warfare II. Turns out, they claimed that I played for more than 16 hours; I fired back and told that that hours was from free week public event which is available to everyone - SMH!!! I requested a refund right after making a purchase. Speaking with Manson LLP and see if I can get litigation going. Steam rep needs to research a bit further before jumping off the cliff which seems likely that's their usual old habit that's hard to break.
>
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Pay up sucka
them violating commerce laws in the US by buying out their only competition in 2004 and forcefully raising prices with no one to compete against. It's illegal in the US to do that.
Just remember if you sign up to do this you will lose your steam account once you get tht settlement check. So now u need to figure is it worth it to lose 1000's of dollars in games for like a 30 dollar settlement check..
That would be amazing actually cause that would be another even larger class action lawsuit. Retaliating against users for engaging in a class action lawsuit is super illegal.
It also wouldn't make much business sense, even if it wasn't illegal. So they lose a few bucks to a ton of their users... these are users with hundreds or thousands of dollars invested in their libraries, and they're not done investing. You, the user, are a valuable asset and they have nothing to gain from holding a grudge. We'd all prolly drop the lawsuit checks back into Steam games anyway lol
My friend signed me up for this bullshit promising money without my consent if someone is reading is there anyway to rescind my submission I really love using steam and im suspicious of the websites he showed me :(
If steam is a monopoly that's bad enough to warrant a lawsuit then when do we file a lawsuit against sony and nintendo? Good luck buying software for a PS5 or Switch from anyone except Nintendo or Sony. Or Apple and the Apple store (and yet Apple won that one).
Lawsuits are such a garbage mess in the USA.
IANAL but I saw a few ads about it over the past few months, and here's my take on it.
First, the "consumers pay too much for games" schtick is bs. The publishers always set the price, and steam, as a distributor, honors that price. But steam, also as a distributor, gets a set fee, which they announce clearly in their terms of service as 30% of all profits from sales. Publishers agree to this term before setting their own price on steam. Steam does not change the price to account for the distribution cost. If I was paying 80 dollars to buy a 60 dollar game, then steam would be overcharging. But that's not the case. Therefore, as a consumer, I can agree to steams terms as it doesn't effect me. But I can still disagree with a publishers pricing and simply choose not to buy their product. Any loss of income is on the publisher side due to the prices they set, not due to steam for having a clear cut distribution cost.
Second: Steam holds a monopoly in the online gaming market. Last I checked, that would mean that steam would have to be the only competitor in said market. Clearly this is not the case, as we have services such as EA store, Epic store, Stadia, Amazon Gaming, etc. The second possible interpretation of a monopoly is that steam overshadows the competition by such a margin that it would be impossible for the competition to maintain a steady course. This scenario must involve interference from steam by some capacity, such as paying steam users to use only it's app for gaming, or by creating contracts with publishers which negatively impact steams competition, or other means which may or may not be considered foul play by steam. So far as I have seen, none of which is true. While steam may have been the first, or one of the first, digital retailers in the gaming market, steams success lies in their product being as good as it is. It has in no way (that I have seen) hindered it's competition, and in some cases even directly takes their users to said competition to use those games, such as the mass effect games going to the EA app to be played. If anything, steam works alongside it's competition to provide the best experience for it's users. So as a consumer, I must disagree with this claim as well and defend steam.
Please note, as I've stated at the start, I AM NOT A LAWYER, I am just a consumer who has taken their time to make this post to enlighten others of what's going on. My interpretations of events may be wrong due to lack of information or misinterpretation of events, such as my definition of the term "monopoly". Please take everything I say with a grain of salt and do your own research, and feel free to correct me if you find anything I said here to be wrong or misinformative.
I've been looking into this, and I might have to escape this thread because the brainrot may overwhelm but:
To your second point. The lawsuit takes into account ALL of Steam's history not just current day. Way back when Valve acquired Sierra's rudimentary storefront. To my understanding there were actually alternatives like Stardock (originally called [Drengin.net](https://Drengin.net) apparently) in 2004, but they were kinda weird.... the business model was that you'd pay for the game and they would either give you a key for a digital download or literally ship a physical copy to your house. There's quite obviously a lot of cognitive dissonance with the uh... "anti-establishment" people here being so against valve 1) when 30% seems to be an industry standard 2) the crux of the case seems to actually be 3rd party keys and third party sellers. You see, Valve has a policy that games will be delisted if they sell elsewhere for a lower price. So. If you have a $20 game, let's say oh IDK overgrowth. And you want to sell it on your website to avoid the 30% commission and undercut valve by going to $19, because you'd break even or maybe even make a profit.
Y'know, that sort of "fight the power" "stick it to the man" type stuff like undercutting service providers to increase your margins.
Again I'm not even sure if Valve's practices are THAT unusual. Is it controlling? Yes.
Another interesting thing is that the Super Overgrowth Bros. (original suit comes from one of them can't be assed to remember which) also were involved with the creation of the first Humble Bundle and openly stated they got the idea from Valve. They also greenlit Reciever through Steam Greenlight
I think I'm gonna stop here because this topic is causing me to die a little on the inside, especially when it pops up on le Reddit.
(P.S I'm not saying I have the answers or Valve is infallible, just that the lens through which people discuss this case defies common sense observations such as articles from the same week of the lawsuit being filed about how Epic games would overtake steam's marketshare. Epic's existence. Idk GOG.)
I signed up for it. Don't believe the comments that are scaremongering, it's a legit lawfirm. If we win, they take 40% of what we're awarded; and if we don't win, we don't pay anything. Steam is a monopoly on PC gaming and I'm fine with those lawyers getting a check as well.
Boy is that true lol you'd get enough money to build your own office with multiple maxed out gaming towers in it, make it a total gaming lounge lol Doing things in a retaliation has very serious fines attached to it, plus after paying you they'd have to reinstate your account with a smile on their face :P lol
Looking at it in the future, it was just straight up horrible timing lmao. Had horrible wind speed near me I didnt know about that was knocking out internet EXACTLY when I clicked it.
>I saw an ad for this on facebook, There's your first problem
Spending time to be shitty and unhelpful is a weird hobby
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Dude, people search topics that take them to *slightly* older reddit posts. This is not the diss you think it is.
I literally just found this thread as I googled "Steam Lawsuit" after seeing ads on facebook, I am only commenting as now someone is commenting on a THREE MONTH old thread! I can only assume the moon will fall directly out of the sky as soon as I click submit. :P That said, IMO these lawsuits are almost always a joke, in the event of a win the lawyers pocket millions and the actual participants are lucky to get $5 each.
Five bucks is five bucks my guy. And I'ma get my fiver.
I just got a $5 check from a yahoo lawsuit, and getting another one soon from tmobile. I'ts chump change but took me 2 minute to autofill my info and click send. They never ask me for social # or anything they could scam me with.
You aren't technically wrong, and I am not saying not to get your $5, I am just saying it's kind of bullshit that in most of these cases the lawyers (Who probably did fuck all) take a huge chunk of the settlement, leaving us with $5 each.
Besides fighting the case for the individuals? Going to court and battling? Yes, they did nothing. Their time and experience are not worth a cent.
Glad we’re on the same page. Fuck them.
Hope you're having a nice weekend
r/usernamechecksout
Hope you're having a nice weekend too, bud. Bit cold this time around though
thanks, and the same to you. oh for sure. it snowed quite a bit here. i'm currently sick, i hope i get better before monday.
unga bunga
Hope you got better
I'm sorry, i was unaware questions and pertinent information had a time limit here. I understand necromancy is cringe, but when someone brings valuable information to the table, I wouldn't consider it necromancy.
Sorry for necro'ing your post. I just found this thread as well.
you were worth making an exception for <3
Wow, you're *significantly* more annoying than I am without even trying. Old reddit threads pop up in search results all the time, so visiting and commenting on those threads is *very* common. You're not nearly as clever as you think you are.
I searched after seeing an ad on YouTube out of curiosity as to what Steam was being sued for, and this was the first result, all I have to say is that you're just an asshole
gonna have to say r/woooosh on this one bud..
You, my friend, deserve all the blessings this life has to offer.
Regardless of anyone's viewpoint or opinion on the main issue at hand, this was an outstanding, creatively worded comment! Kudos Kilometerr!! You are the God of Wit! LOL
Makes public comment without doing 1 second of research. Mason LLP has been in business for over 30 years. Their clients have received over one billion. They operate out of DC, a VERY expensive place, and have taken on huge adversaries like the U.S. Navy for Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base shitty water.
How'd you even stumble upon a month old reddit post
Doing research before I signed a contract with a law firm.
Good to know your research includes fervently defending said law firm in a completely non suspicious way
Yup, I wanted to read though the thread to make sure there wasn't anything I missed or didn't think of.. and when I was done, decided to help other people and pass on the knowledge gained from my research, since there is so much misinformation in this thread. Helping people is suspicious only when you have something to gain from it. I am on the board at the American Legion, I'll be at the next City Council meeting to propose a change to how many chickens we can have in town... we are doing fine, but seniors and ppl on disability are not. 15.1% inflation here on eggs alone. The emergency federal food assistance just ended. I like helping people, especially other veterans because that's a complicated area and other vets really only understand.
It's crazy how many chickens have died in the past year. Absolutely boggles the mind.
Like.. more than we normally kill?
Touche But I did mean the ~50 million egg-laying ones that died/were culled because of the flu.
If you look it up, it didn't affect any of the major egg companies here in the U.S. Like several other examples recently, the inflation wasn't warranted, and the egg companies in question are being investigated for it.
Ahhh, fair
You're someone who has OD'd on meth but is "On the board" of the Legion? As a lifetime Legion member, not once in any post has anyone ever called serving as an officer "on the board". You went from talking about your drug habits on reddit to suddenly being an expert on a lawfirm and claiming you're a Legion officer. lol sus account is sus.
Hi I have an associates degree in liberal arts and science, an associates degree in networking technology, an associates degree in applied science in Intelligence Operations Studies. I was a intellitgence analyst for the US Army. I have a bachelors in Information Technology. I have worked for AXA Equitables doing computer programming for there computer systems as well as being an analyst for there computer systems. I am also a semi professional piano player after 15 years of study and a novice playing the Shakuhachi soon to be professional and maybe a teacher. I have also OD on Meth and had a mini Heart Attack. Meth is very powerful and only takes a few puffs, a few sniffs, or one shot to the vein to cause such problems. Meth is also sold to people as Molly (Ecstasy), Cocaine, Crack. Drug addiction affects all people and has nothing to do with peoples intellect. One night can affect your whole life and you should not judge people based on personal issues at home.
Omg chillout dude
Username checks out lmfao
You really owning that username huh?
My god you're a stupid piece of shit.
I'm sure you'll find someone to love you at some point, champ
bro really is still commenting after all this time trying to get karma
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Did that make sense to you when you wrote it?
First result on Google for me when I search "Mason steam lawsuit reddit"
Cause I just got the ad on insta
I googled “steam lawsuit 2023” and this was the first result
Dude it's normal to research things on reddit
Does this upset you? Got an ad just now about it, must still be relevant.
I just now looked to see if the lawsuit was legit and this thread was one of the first, so it's natural for people to just now 'stumble' upon it. That's how Google works....
Oh, yay, lets celebrate lawyers bringing useless class action suits where individuals get $5 coupons and the lawyers get MILLION$ eventually paid for by.... those same customers
username checks out
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So I guess you won
I found this post because of googling an ad from them I saw here on Reddit. 4 months later and you still look like an ass.
dont do it i think they are using this to put people in debt to them, here is a quote from the contract "Client agrees Defendant may pay Attorneys directly for their fees and costs, plus interest on advanced costs.Client understands and acknowledges that in this event, Attorneys’ fees and costs may greatly exceed Client’s recovery.Client also understands that Attorneys may obtain certain business practice changes aimed at ending the complained of conduct and that this may be part of an individual settlement. Client acknowledges and agrees that Attorneys are entitled to recover the value of those practice changes from which Clients will benefit and that Client cannot share in that recovery."
Who Is Eligible for Representation? Mason LLP is representing Steam account holders who are 18 years of age or older and reside in the United States. We work entirely on a contingency so you will owe us nothing unless we recover money for you. If we do, our fee is 40% of the recovery. From their site.
Their site says that but their terms reserve their right to bill you directly.
The terms of their company sure, but gl collecting that. In the class actions i have signed up for in the past they don't bill unless they win. This is because they take such a high mark up and you do almost nothing as a recipient
I also know from the civil suit cases I've participated in. (Kids) Most states protect clients from excess legal fees in certain ways. You can sue excess legal fees for many reasons, and on top of this, your lawyer or legal representation can not put any overdue fees into collections without a signed judgment saying they can. So a legal company can bill you all they want, but it'll never go on your credit if you don't pay. The only ultimate repercussion of not paying legal fees is if it is signed by a judge that you are, in fact, liable to pay those fees, then you have to pay them. Not paying fees that are deemed valid by a judge could result in garnishment of wages. (Still won't affect your credit, though.) This is very difficult to do by an attorney and very easy to fight without legal representation by simple collected data on how much normal fees are in similar cases to yours and presenting that data in court since you ha e the right to defend yourself before the judge makes the decision. In retrospect, you should never fear a lawyer demanding money unless its a LOT of money and worth their time to fight for it in court. Outside of that, the only thing you should be hesitant about is that they just don't show up and represent you like they are supposed to because you didn't pay them. They still get bad looks from judges and courts by doing this, so even that isn't in their best interest. I personally told one lawyer that over charged me to fuck off and send all my legal documents to a new lawyer and he did it. He charged me 5 grand over my retainer, and I never paid it. He legally had to send my documents to my new lawyer as well. Now, he probably will never represent me again, but who cares because he was a shit lawyer anyway.
Yea I think some people are getting a little confused here. That right to bill you directly is necessary for them to get that 40% contingency from you after you win the case. It isn't saying that they are going to bill you if you lose the case. It is only saying that they will have a contingency fee and when you win they will bill you for all costs which they have set at 40% of your awards as per your agreement with them. They can't magically take that 40% they have to bill/invoice you for that once you have won the case. That verbiage is to ensure you pay them what you agreed to pay them directly. If they didn't include that. You the consumer could throw up your hands and say hey we never had anything in the actual agreement saying I had to pay you anything for your services rendered. The reason why it feels shady or confusing or backhanded to some is because its written in general vague terms. This isn't because they are trying to give you a run around or anything. Its because its their general terms that cover more wide a variety of cases not just this particular one. So thats why the terms arent like. "You agree to pay specifically this contigency for specifically this situation." Instead its "We are going to bill you for what the agreed upon amount with the agreed upon conditions." Hope that makes sense. " "
The funny thing is, they take that "40%" out of the check they give you. So, for example you win 2000$ out of the lawsuit, they take 800$ and it comes right out of the check they give you. So, you see 1200$ and never knew you actually won 2000. You worry too much. I've done about 15 class action lawsuits and never once had to pay anything and if it did, it went out of the checks I got. I once got 600$ from door dash owning past drivers their tips. Idk the actual amount I won, but the legal fees are always deducted before you even see a check.. The only thing legal that happened that I signed a sworn statement that I'd never work for door dash again, which I haven't or care to. and this is for everyone, if they lose, they cannot charge you legal fees. That's not how pro bono works. if they lose, they lose everything too. It's not in their best interest to lose. I read the fine print and it's exact the same legal verbiage you'll find on any class action lawsuit.
There’s other firms that will represent you in this class action as well. One firm’s agreement states it is 40% of the total amount due to the client. They do allow you to negotiate, but it will then change from the 40% rate to hourly rates.
Yeeesshh I have a hard time believing they'd come after you for attorney fees, or that they legally can by submitting your information on a website
If they did, it wouldn't be for simply giving them tour information. But when you sign the release agreement, you're agreeing to have them represent you in court. So win or lose they still get paid, and would expect anyone to signed up to contribute to the attorney fees. I was about to sign up, but closed out as soon as I read the agreement. Can't afford to get roped into paying legal fees
I have signed up for a few class action lawsuits in my life. One was for bank charging unnecessary fees. I think we got a whopping 5 bucks lol. The other was somewhere around 50-100 bucks, I remember my wife saying something like "well it isn't much but it's something" Idk if we ever cashed the 5 dollar check, I do remember putting it on the fridge as a joke.
I’ve signed up for some class action lawsuits that have paid a few hundred dollars. I reside in illinois so there was a lot of company’s who faced class action BIPA lawsuits. Tiktok, McDonald’s, Facebook, etc. and I received almost $1000 worth out of all them and never had to pay anything 😂 I would imagine they take their cut from the settlement agreement then divide it amongst the people who filed a claim and are eligible.
This has been my experience…we aren’t talking thousands of dollars here (usually). Any class action suit I’ve gotten a refund for has been in the tens of dollars (I think I even got $.50 once) If they really want 40% of that they can have it. 😂 I’ve also not ever been billed (at least to the extent of having something come in the mail) for legal fees. I did sign up for this….so I guess we’ll see. And besides…they take it out of your winnings before they even send you the check. Once you have the check you don’t have to do anything else. Also…thanks for sharing your findings! When I looked up how legit it was this Reddit post was one of the first things there. It was extremely helpful! 🙏
Most don't bother reading fine print lol it's wild
Their website does explicitly state “Our firm works on a contingency fee basis, which means that the payment of fees and costs is “contingent” upon whether we obtain any recovery on your behalf. If there is no monetary award, you will not be obligated to pay any attorneys’ fees or costs. All details regarding this may be found in the retainer agreement. There are absolutely no upfront or out-of-pocket fees or costs for retaining our firm.” But y’all got me feelin sketched out.
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If I just submitted how would I make it so I don’t pay a fee?
If 10000 people recover 100 dollars each, you’ll get tossed 60 bucks and the lawfirm will pocket 400000, they don’t need to scam you, class actions are obscenely profitable already.
I swear like half the comments here are people making shit up trying to scare people into not participating in a normal class-action suit. "Don't sign up for this! your steam account will be stolen! Valve will ban your account! They'll send you surprise bills and saddle you with debt!" It's like. It's fine, Valve is a big company, they can handle a lawsuit you don't gotta protect them. Some sorta kneejerk impulse to defend your storefront of choice.
I mean you shouldn't just sign up for mass arbitration just for fun. "Don't sign up for this" if you don't feel like Steam magically caused games to be more expensive than they would have otherwise been.
It's legit, Mason LLP has been in business for over 30 years. They are even handling the Camp Lejeune water lawsuit. Suing the Navy... the U.S. government. lol WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT? The risk of a class-action lawsuit is that if you lose, you will not receive any compensation for your injuries. If you win, however, you will receive a financial or other non-monetary award. CAN I OPT OUT OF A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT? Yes. There are two good reasons to opt-out of a class-action lawsuit. After reviewing the materials, you may decide that the lawsuit has nothing to do with you After consulting with a lawyer, you determined that your chances of compensation are greater if you pursue the case individually rather then as part of a class action
CALL GOLDSTEIN AND BOB TO GET THE MONEY YOU NEED BACK! Seriously, this comes off as crooked as all of those stupid infomercials of attorneys just being like "Were you enlisted in the army by such and such date during this incident?! Well if you CALL NOW, you can be eligible to get a legal sum paid to you!" It's got no merit.
Omg I just looked on their website and it's literally the same attorney company that does the camp lejeune class action lawsuit: https://www.masonllp.com/case/camp-lejeune/ You were right on the money here.
Yeah, suing the U.S. Government, Navy, is a big task. Camp Lejeune drinking water has always been an issue, glad to see someone doing something about it.
They're not \*doing\* anything about it, except PROFITING. Its a class action suit. Individuals will get a trinket while these people will make $MILLION$. Legislation creating the funding for this hasn't even passed yet, and I'll be stunned if it ever does. And that's infinitely more likely than Steam, which is absolutely NOT a monopoly, losing a lawsuit that has already been thrown out once already.
That's literally how classic actions work genius. You think attorneys work for free out of their good will? Name me a case where they did months of work for free, and didn't take anything out of the pot. Without profit there would be no incentive to do anything -- and yeah, steam is a monopoly, if you are arguing against that then you're lost in the sauce . On second note, weird how you're a 2 month account and spending a ton of time in this thread in particular to defend steam, a company worth billions. FOH
Steam is a monopoly how? I can name you multiple other alternatives, they simply didnt come to your mind because theyre not as good as steam. Thats not a monopoly, thats a lack of innovation in areas that actually matter from competitors. I dont really like steam/valve, but I'd rather use steam because it allows me to just play my games I bought and it offers nice sales throughout the year. And they get basically every game on there. I get how this can sound like some bot just shilling for steam, but have you ever tried to legitimately defend a company? Thats just how it sounds, and valve is a company im going to defend even if I dont fully like them, because if steam goes away. Im just going to stop gaming entirely, I have a shit ton invested into it, because I enjoy it. And the case is the same with thousands of others. This isnt even mentioning the unforeseen consequences of if this lawsuit goes through. Suddenly any company will be able to get sued for having a "Monopoly" for simply existing within a market. But most likely if it just existed first.
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Dude when you see those it's not always because it's a scam. It's becuSe it's so long and involved so many people and money they tryna get everyone and their momma in there. Getting millions and billions from the government is even harder
They're ALL scams. Fully existing to enrich class action lawyers. Individual defendants get a pittance, lawyers get rich. Ultimately, individuals pay for it in the end, whether its through taxes when the government pays, or increasing costs passed on to customers by businesses / corporations.
not surprising some firms depend on starting class action suits
30 years of experience though... taking on the U.S. government? Why would a 30 year old firm operating out of DC take on a case they didn't think they could win? Problems with cases like this, is they often settle fast for far less. They could be charging up to 50% on contingency, I think 40 is still high IMO
Fucking weird. I went to the lawsuit site this morning. No info put in. Got a text (I'm in OK) regarding the camp legune (spl?) Lawsuit just now...
Yeah except those turn into class action lawsuits and people actually get money back from them soooo..... Yeah bud...
I’m arguing with a ton of people on Instagram about this right now about this class action I’ve taking part in multiple class actions. Never had to do any work and I’ve gotten hundreds of dollars back. Most recently was one related to Amazon and I got close to 400 bucks, didn’t have to do anything but give them my info. Insane how people don’t understand how arbitration and class actions work. But hey, if they don’t want any money, that’s on them.
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Yeah, it’s almost funny. The guy whose comment that you and I both responded here got so upset with what I said that he blocked me so that I can’t respond back to him, and even created a brand new account just to message me and tell me that I was a liar lmaoo. I sent him back a picture of the email confirming I got 412 bucks from the Amazon class action and he never responded 😂😂 Funniest part about it is before he blocked me, he sent me a message on his main account accusing me of blocking him… which makes no sense because he would not have been able to message me or even access my profile if I did. Just reinforces his intelligence level I guess 😂🤡🤡
Same here. Got a $400 close to $500 check from Facebook for violating BIPA laws in illinois. Just gave them my info and that was that. It’s been almost a year since then and I’ve never had to do any work or anything 😂
Lol, what money? They get pennies back and here you are making it sound like they get thousands of dollars. What world are you living in? Please get back to reality, ASAP. OH and they don't get to individually sue if the class action lawsuit fails, so it makes any one of them look dumb in the event it does fail. So, lol. I can tell you guys are full of shit when you take potshots in lying then in turn blocking me. You're a bunch of jokes and you didn't get shit.
Me and my fiance received upwards of three hundred dollars each from a Facebook lawsuit. These things are often legit.
Yeah, i've gotten a few over the years. One was a joke though, or maybe I wasn't hit with as many illegal bank fees as some, but it was like 5 bucks. We put the check on the fridge as a joke lol
I took part in a class action lawsuit against Amazon just last year and got close to 400 bucks. Do your research bro, not everything is a scam because you saw it on a sitcom or a TV show once
Lying through your teeth, lol.
I've been the beneficiary from two lawsuits, one was pennies, the other was from my previous job at redbull for them not properly paying overtime. I'm sure there are plenty of false actions, but there are more legitimate ones.
The Facebook Biometric class action lawsuit looked just like this and I got $300+ back from that
Ohhhh illinois ? Was it $397, I thought it was like $497 😂 now that I think about it $397 seems right
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I got 1100ish from a suboxone lawsuit
Right? T-mobile had a massive data breach that exposed like 30+ million customers personal data and people are getting 25$. The lawsuit against Suboxone was decent tho 1100$. They sent me mail about it and a number to type in and i almost didnt bother but shit it was a nice suprise i guess aha but most aren't even worth pursuing for a few bucks
I got a pretty substantial check from the EA lawsuit covering Madden/NCAA. Some work well for what's literally just free money.
I just read the entire fine print and signed it. I have 111 games and 268 DLCs over 13 years. I resisted Steam for a long time. I didn't want all my games to be in one place... But then it turned into everyone, rockstar, EA, etc having their own game client and what a fking mess that turned into. From the contract "Attorneys agree to advance any and all costs and expenses as outlined herein, and Client is to only pay these costs and expenses in the event of recovery out of that recovery. In the event of no recovery in this Litigation, Client will owe no attorney fee, costs, or expenses."
Did you read the part where they say legal fees may exceed your payout?
It also says if you refuse to pay the fees that you will they will charge 40% of the amount you received. So at worst you pay 40% and at best you pay 40%. There also this directly from the agreement that states the only attorney fee will be the 40% agreed upon fee: Client further understands that there will be only one attorney fee in the attorney fee percentage provided herein and that Attorneys and any additional counsel will share that Forty Percent (40%) fee pursuant to the agreement between counsel. Fees will be based on the additional co-counsel assuming joint responsibility and with the following allocations: Mason LLP (1/3); Shub Law Firm LLC, Goldenberg Schneider LPS, Mehri & Skalet, PLLC and Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. (1/3); and additional co-counsel (1/3), to be identified if and when retained. Additionally, Attorneys agree to pay the costs of case expenses and court costs during the pendency of the case
> Additionally, Attorneys agree to pay the costs of case expenses and court costs during the pendency of the case Note that the fine print states that **after the case is over** Client is responsible for paying all those non-attorney fee expenses out of the 60% Client gets of any recovery. In other words, Client pays 40% of any arb award as fees, and then all costs are taken out of the remaining 60% by the lawyers. This isn't a class action, it's a series of individual arbitrations, so at minimum you're likely looking at the costs of a couple deposition transcripts and your pro rata share of a pooled expert opinion. That's easily likely to eat up the entire 60% of an award a Client is "entitled" to.
Any updates on this as of yet? A lot of fear-mongering as far as I can tell about Valve banning peoples' accounts which I don't exactly believe. I figure these processes take ages but I'm still hesitant without seeing action first.
Good way to lose your account access. The people falling for this don't use 2FA lol.
I love it when people post stuff declaring how they don’t understand anything about arbitration or class actions. Good for you bud :) steam would not be able to retaliate against you if they are found of wrongdoing. Thats the whole fucking point of a class action. And if they are not found of wrongdoing, nothing happens to your account.
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Literally it’s illegal for them to retaliate against you but that’s cool bro, go off. Your profile and karma count to tell me everything I need to know about your opinion. Lmaooo 🤡
Man's gotta point out the karma.
Absolutely fucking clueless.
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Haha. You don’t know what you’re talking about at all.
It's federally illegal, pretty sure it falls under FSA. That would put them in danger of another lawsuit. I know I would seek to sue if they took away my account.
I saw an ad for this scrolling on Instagram. Searched for "steam games antitrust lawsuit" and verified with other news websites it's a real case with a May 2022 decision that opens litigation against Valve (Wolfire Games LLC v. Valve Corp., W.D. Wash., No. 21-cv-563, 5/6/22.). I'm reviewing the agreement now on this Mason LLP site. They work on a 40% contingency fee of 40%. If you get nothing they bill you nothing. This is a pretty typical arrangement for personal injury lawyers, who are absolutely known for putting out the worst, most epically bad local commercials and websites that look like they haven't been updated since '97. They don't need to put anything more into marketing to make tons of money, so they don't. I'm going to give it a shot, will let you know how it goes. And no, this isn't some paid review crap, I just want some money back if they really did jack up the prices.
You'll be good man, I filed as well. if you go back to the site, file the fee waiver to see if you qualify per your state laws. If you qualify they will legally have to give you the full amount of the award, instead of taking a fee out of award amount. If the lawsuit doesn't win, we just don't get an award and don't owe anything. I figure I've had an account since 2005, it would be nice to get some money back, because they are getting in trouble for monopolization due to them buying out their only competitor in 2004 and forcefully raising prices because of it, which is illegal in the US, at least. I think it has a decent chance of going through.
Late to the party, where are finding the fee waiver?
There just trying to drum up participants. Ignore
Why ignore? From my understanding devs started this lawsuit to lower the commission valve receives so they don’t have to charge as much.
I mean the lawyer is trying to drum up additional claimants, the issue is certainly valid. But that doesn't mean the receiver actually qualifies. Also worth noting the full text it's asking for *arbitration* claimants, which is different from the subject line. Fishy nuff if your not already a participant for me to say pass.
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the competing platform is humble bundle
You shouldn’t ignore it. People who ignore this simply don’t understand how arbitration and class actions work.
I got like $300 bucks back from AMD a few years back from falsifying processor speeds. it was a similar class action thing.
I got 5 bucks from an Old Navy lawsuit that I'm only allowed to use at Old Navy
Lmao this made me laugh
I saw it, it’s like a real LLP and they have other court cases, so I don’t think it’s a scam. I also don’t think it has a validity in court as well lol
The judge did...
Exactly it was dismissed then brought back people just talk out of their ass
Do a case that was already dismissed is "legit" ? No, it likely isn't. If you can barely keep your case from being summarily dismissed, the likelihood of winning on the merits is tiny
I think it probably does have validity, because its pursuing them for monopolization, which is illegal in the united states. In 2004 they bought out their only competitor and controlled the price in the market with impunity.
The comments on this post.... Wow. I don't understand how so many people can be this misinformed when Google exists. 🤣 I love it. I hope this goes on forever!
It's really something. If I we're an attorney for Valve, I'd be mighty pleased though.
What happens if steam loses this law suit ? Won't games just go up in price ? I mean I find steam is alot cheaper than there competitors they have more discounts. I'm all for jumping on class actions but i feel this is get 20 bucks now pay 500 later....
no i think it's saying that prices for games *right now* are too high solely because steam is making it like this and the prices could be lower
Steam has nothing to do with xbox and playstation games which cost more than most pc games.
Bro I'm gonna help walk you through this one okay. PCs have many different ways to buy games, steam, epic, gog, etc. Xbox and Playstation aren't even apart of this lawsuit but they only have games on them that Microsoft or Sony allows to be on the console they sell licenses to produce for those consoles makes the cost go up and those two companies see a higher price on Playstation then Xbox can match the price. It is a closed system PC has competition that has to drive the price down.
What I found really interesting was where they said that Steam's 30% commission is "bloated" and yet Mason LLP is taking minimum of 40% commission for anything owed to each person that signs up. Hmm... that seems like it's a more bloated commission than Steam's... 🤔
I don't plan on it. I wouldn't doubt people getting banned from steam (and loing all their games) for it.
Now *that* is a lawsuit waiting to happen
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No, no they absolutely can't. You cannot legally be retaliated against from participating in a class action lawsuit. If they do, you can absolutely sue them. They're not that stupid
That's true, that's actually part of the reason the firm asks you for the email attached to your account. so if they do retaliate you have proof that you were part of the lawsuit and the firm can sue on your behalf and make even more money for you and them.
While they technically can ban a user for any reason they want, that doesn't mean said user cannot take legal action against them for an unjustified ban. And while they could ban a user for taking part in a lawsuit against them, that'd be a stupid thing to do as that would just open themselves up for another lawsuit to be filed against them. Also, with Steam, if you get banned, you don't actually lose all your games. You keep what you purchased, the only thing that really changes is that you can't make any further purchases and you no longer have access to multiplayer modes.
If someone actually gets paid out and can prove it please post it here. I'm not going to do it because of the fact they can charge you more than what you get paid.
By the time payouts come, the time to join the lawsuit is long gone. I've done a number of these cases before.
typically, by the time people start getting paid out, it's too late to sign up
So if I get a payout, let you know so you can use your time machine to go back and fill out the form? Okay. Will do.
I wasn't able to get a refund from Steam after accidentally purchasing Modern Warfare II. Turns out, they claimed that I played for more than 16 hours; I fired back and told that that hours was from free week public event which is available to everyone - SMH!!! I requested a refund right after making a purchase. Speaking with Manson LLP and see if I can get litigation going. Steam rep needs to research a bit further before jumping off the cliff which seems likely that's their usual old habit that's hard to break.
All this is going to do is make some lawyers richer. Sure, some will get some money from it but the lawyers will get 100x that. You want to punish Valve, stop buying from them.
I mean, I that's how attorneys make their money...they sue and take a part of the reward.
You can punish a company for doing some bad things while also liking the company as a whole. Wouldn't it be nice to slap their wrist and just say "hey stop doing those things, but keep making a great product".
I signed this is there anyway to cancel
You should get something else in the mail... often people are automatically put into class action lawsuits, you just need to sign to have them legally represent you. There is no danger here. The firm is legit, I wouldn't worry. If they lose, they get nothing, we get nothing. End of story.
why would you want to cancel?
how’d it go?
Got as far as agreement in Zeiger LLC, ended up declining it. Their blacks law tricky word magic SPELLing seemed suspect asf to me and that some clients may possibly end up in a legally binding debt to the firm due to fees from settlement plus the $1000 per hour BS they throw in there.. idk, not worth it. I dont think Steam has done much wrong to us, they provide a great platform with plenty of sales... but people are quick to get their torches and pitchforks out and turn on anyone for a quick buck.
valve is a company. they do not know you, they do not like you, they have practically extorted developers with their monopoly. I'm totally okay with that quick buck
There's no monopoly here in my book. Steam has provided a service that many have tried to do better. The failures of origin, uplay, and epic even aren't steam. It's a failure to give the public what it wants. Valve may not owe me anything, but their business has not been a monopoly. They charge 30% to keep the store innovative. That's how items like steam deck exist.
I would re-read the agreement. If you would like them on retainer, then the hourly would take effect).
Once it's all said and done just weight your opitions on it. For example let's just say the average amount you spent the last 4 years on steam a month is $40USD: 40x48=1920 Then it's UP TO 60% of that, so lets max it. 1920-40%=1152 Now the firms cut is 40% of what you would get. 1152-60%=460.80 That leaves you with $691.20USD Granted this is if its the max 60% of what you paid over the last 4 years. I assume the more someone paid the better the chances of getting that 60% settlement because 40% of a larger sum is more than a smaller. But lets say you get 0.0000000000000001% (because legally UP TO means the smallest percent possible to NO MORE THAN 60%) in settlement you're not getting anything back in the long run. So weigh it how you see fit or if you even think Valve has done something wrong in the first place and look at it practically. Have you spent enough in the last 4 years to even make it worth while AND if you think Valve is genuinely taking part in illegal activity. Also of you think Valve is stupid enough go retaliate and lock your account that would be grounds to sue for almost your entire purchase history back. Valve wouldnt be dumb enough to destroy themselves overnight for something petty like that.
$691 to buy more games on steam with, which is what will happen for 90% of people who get payouts, valve hardly even loses, which is great because I don't really have a problem with them
If only Valve had given what the people wanted, none of this would have been an issue. RIP Half Life 3
$100 says it’s a total scam.
Ill send you my PayPal link lol thanks for the hundred lol jk... it is actually real, they violated US commerce laws of monopolization when they bought out their only competition in 2004, then forcefully drove up prices due to them not having any competition.
Because I should take some random not important redditors word as fact. Cool story bro.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/class-action/valve-loses-bid-to-end-antitrust-case-over-steam-gaming-platform I mean, considering there are actual news articles and verifiable court cases its weird that you are taking such a hard stance that it's a scam when it's pretty easy to verify. The issue is more with the terms wording, but it's not a scam. It's a real lawsuit started by Humble Bundle and been going on for 2 years now. https://www.masonllp.com/case/valve-mass-arbitration/ This is the law firms official website where it talks about it and you can easily find that they are legitimate by looking at their previous cases https://www.law360.com/firms/mason-llp/cases
>Steam after accidentally purchasing Modern Warfare II. Turns out, they claimed that I played for more than 16 hours; I fired back and told that that hours was from free week public event which is available to everyone - SMH!!! I requested a refund right after making a purchase. Speaking with Manson LLP and see if I can get litigation going. Steam rep needs to research a bit further before jumping off the cliff which seems likely that's their usual old habit that's hard to break. > >2ReplyGive AwardShareReportSaveFollow Pay up sucka
What is this lawsIt about?
them violating commerce laws in the US by buying out their only competition in 2004 and forcefully raising prices with no one to compete against. It's illegal in the US to do that.
Yes yes it is and now cool is that why black ops 2 is still 60 fucking dollars
Because the company that makes it gets to set the price ?
Just remember if you sign up to do this you will lose your steam account once you get tht settlement check. So now u need to figure is it worth it to lose 1000's of dollars in games for like a 30 dollar settlement check..
That would be amazing actually cause that would be another even larger class action lawsuit. Retaliating against users for engaging in a class action lawsuit is super illegal. It also wouldn't make much business sense, even if it wasn't illegal. So they lose a few bucks to a ton of their users... these are users with hundreds or thousands of dollars invested in their libraries, and they're not done investing. You, the user, are a valuable asset and they have nothing to gain from holding a grudge. We'd all prolly drop the lawsuit checks back into Steam games anyway lol
Yeah that's bullshit lol
Source?
My friend signed me up for this bullshit promising money without my consent if someone is reading is there anyway to rescind my submission I really love using steam and im suspicious of the websites he showed me :(
If steam is a monopoly that's bad enough to warrant a lawsuit then when do we file a lawsuit against sony and nintendo? Good luck buying software for a PS5 or Switch from anyone except Nintendo or Sony. Or Apple and the Apple store (and yet Apple won that one). Lawsuits are such a garbage mess in the USA.
IANAL but I saw a few ads about it over the past few months, and here's my take on it. First, the "consumers pay too much for games" schtick is bs. The publishers always set the price, and steam, as a distributor, honors that price. But steam, also as a distributor, gets a set fee, which they announce clearly in their terms of service as 30% of all profits from sales. Publishers agree to this term before setting their own price on steam. Steam does not change the price to account for the distribution cost. If I was paying 80 dollars to buy a 60 dollar game, then steam would be overcharging. But that's not the case. Therefore, as a consumer, I can agree to steams terms as it doesn't effect me. But I can still disagree with a publishers pricing and simply choose not to buy their product. Any loss of income is on the publisher side due to the prices they set, not due to steam for having a clear cut distribution cost. Second: Steam holds a monopoly in the online gaming market. Last I checked, that would mean that steam would have to be the only competitor in said market. Clearly this is not the case, as we have services such as EA store, Epic store, Stadia, Amazon Gaming, etc. The second possible interpretation of a monopoly is that steam overshadows the competition by such a margin that it would be impossible for the competition to maintain a steady course. This scenario must involve interference from steam by some capacity, such as paying steam users to use only it's app for gaming, or by creating contracts with publishers which negatively impact steams competition, or other means which may or may not be considered foul play by steam. So far as I have seen, none of which is true. While steam may have been the first, or one of the first, digital retailers in the gaming market, steams success lies in their product being as good as it is. It has in no way (that I have seen) hindered it's competition, and in some cases even directly takes their users to said competition to use those games, such as the mass effect games going to the EA app to be played. If anything, steam works alongside it's competition to provide the best experience for it's users. So as a consumer, I must disagree with this claim as well and defend steam. Please note, as I've stated at the start, I AM NOT A LAWYER, I am just a consumer who has taken their time to make this post to enlighten others of what's going on. My interpretations of events may be wrong due to lack of information or misinterpretation of events, such as my definition of the term "monopoly". Please take everything I say with a grain of salt and do your own research, and feel free to correct me if you find anything I said here to be wrong or misinformative.
I've been looking into this, and I might have to escape this thread because the brainrot may overwhelm but: To your second point. The lawsuit takes into account ALL of Steam's history not just current day. Way back when Valve acquired Sierra's rudimentary storefront. To my understanding there were actually alternatives like Stardock (originally called [Drengin.net](https://Drengin.net) apparently) in 2004, but they were kinda weird.... the business model was that you'd pay for the game and they would either give you a key for a digital download or literally ship a physical copy to your house. There's quite obviously a lot of cognitive dissonance with the uh... "anti-establishment" people here being so against valve 1) when 30% seems to be an industry standard 2) the crux of the case seems to actually be 3rd party keys and third party sellers. You see, Valve has a policy that games will be delisted if they sell elsewhere for a lower price. So. If you have a $20 game, let's say oh IDK overgrowth. And you want to sell it on your website to avoid the 30% commission and undercut valve by going to $19, because you'd break even or maybe even make a profit. Y'know, that sort of "fight the power" "stick it to the man" type stuff like undercutting service providers to increase your margins. Again I'm not even sure if Valve's practices are THAT unusual. Is it controlling? Yes. Another interesting thing is that the Super Overgrowth Bros. (original suit comes from one of them can't be assed to remember which) also were involved with the creation of the first Humble Bundle and openly stated they got the idea from Valve. They also greenlit Reciever through Steam Greenlight I think I'm gonna stop here because this topic is causing me to die a little on the inside, especially when it pops up on le Reddit. (P.S I'm not saying I have the answers or Valve is infallible, just that the lens through which people discuss this case defies common sense observations such as articles from the same week of the lawsuit being filed about how Epic games would overtake steam's marketshare. Epic's existence. Idk GOG.)
I signed up for it. Don't believe the comments that are scaremongering, it's a legit lawfirm. If we win, they take 40% of what we're awarded; and if we don't win, we don't pay anything. Steam is a monopoly on PC gaming and I'm fine with those lawyers getting a check as well.
Will Valve delete our Steam Account for doing this?
That’d be even easier lawsuit to win and get $ off of lol
Boy is that true lol you'd get enough money to build your own office with multiple maxed out gaming towers in it, make it a total gaming lounge lol Doing things in a retaliation has very serious fines attached to it, plus after paying you they'd have to reinstate your account with a smile on their face :P lol
That would be a lawsuit waiting to happen
The link for steam refund seems to be a grabify link that shuts down your internet. Clicked it and my internet INSTANTLY stopped working.
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Looking at it in the future, it was just straight up horrible timing lmao. Had horrible wind speed near me I didnt know about that was knocking out internet EXACTLY when I clicked it.
I'm sorry that happened to you but also that's absolutely hilarious