Several months ago, I read about a class action lawsuit filed against Epson, a company that makes printers. The case had been settled, and as part of the settlement owners of certain printers could receive something like $25 from Epson. I don't recall what it was they had been sued for, but as the owner of Epson printers dating back to the early 1990's, I could guess about a dozen different things that might warrant a lawsuit against the company.

When I first read the article, there was no list of eligible printers available as far as I could tell. If one was available, I guess Google hadn't indexed any links to it yet. I read a short list of popular models that were included in the lawsuit, and my Epsons were not among them. I guess I assumed it was just a short list of printers that were eligible.

While cleaning out my basement today, I came upon an Epson printer. It was one that I owned 4 or 5 years ago, and it only worked for a few months. The ink drained on that thing faster than I could have imagined. Each cartridge was good for about 30 pages of decent quality printing. I remembered the class action against the company so I checked to see if there was now a list available. I found it soon enough, and found that my ink-guzzler was in fact eligible as part of the settlement, but the expiration date on the class action was past.

I got to thinking, why should a class action lawsuit have an expiration date, giving the settlement period a lifespan of just a few months? Wouldn't it be more fair for the eligible class to have a settlement fund which could be drawn from for several years? If someone is ripped off, but then is eligible to receive money as part of a settlement, is it fair to them if they are not notified of the lawsuit until it is expired?
Class Action FAQ - from Lawyers.com