Attorney General Bob Cooper is reminding eligible purchasers of LCD flat screen TVs, monitors and laptops to file a claim to recover restitution as part of a billion-dollar settlement reached with 10 electronics manufacturers. The restitution is part of an agreement resolving an alleged illegal conspiracy to raise prices for the LCD flat panel screens used in televisions, monitors and laptop computers. The class action totals approximately $1.1 billion and provides cash back to consumers and businesses that bought widely used LCD (thin-film, transistor liquid crystal display) screens. The billion-dollar settlement is the antitrust, all-cash class action recovery ever obtained for consumers who bought these electronic products indirectly from retailers and resellers, and not directly from the original manufacturer of the LCD flat panel screens. Eligible consumers will be able to collect $25, $100, $200 or more by answering a few simple questions about the number of LCD flat screen TVs, monitors, and laptops they bought from 1999 to 2006. The exact amount of each payment will depend upon the number of products purchased and the number of claims filed. No receipts or other documents are required for small claims. Cash is available to consumers and businesses in Tennessee and across the country. Consumers have until Dec. 6, 2012 to file a claim. Following U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions of alleged wrongdoers within the LCD industry, several other attorneys general as well as a private class action group sued Japanese firms Hitachi, Sharp and Toshiba; Korean firms Samsung and LG Electronics Inc.; and Taiwanese firms AU Optronics Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., HannStar Display Corp. and Chi Mei Optoelectronics. The agreement releases all claims of indirect purchasers including consumers, businesses and state government.

Sharp Corp, Samsung Electronics Co., Hannstar, Chunghwa, Hitachi, Epson and Chimei agreed to pay $538.6 million to settle antitrust claims by indirect purchasers. This month, the panel makers agreed to pay $388 million to settle price-fixing claims by direct buyers of the products as part of a series of cases consolidated in federal court in San Francisco. Under the new agreement, about $501 million will be available for partial refunds to consumers and about $37 million to compensate governments and other public entities for damages, according to a court filing dated Dec. 23, 2011. The companies allegedly fixed prices of thin-film liquid crystal display panels, driving up prices for purchasers of televisions, notebook computers and monitors from 1999 to 2006. The amount of the settlement, along with the injunction the defendants had to agree to, will prevent price-fixing by these powerful companies in the consumer electronics industry. The only way they pay attention to the law is to have to pay money. The attorneys-general of eight states, including Florida, California and New York, were part of the settlement. Besides the $538.6-million settlement of the antitrust claims, five of the companies also agreed to pay more than $14 million in civil fines and penalties to New York. Samsung agreed to pay $240 million in the settlement. $115.5 million, will be paid by Sharp. Litigation will continue against companies that didn't agree to the class-action settlement, including LG, Toshiba and AU Optronics.