Some iPad owners will soon be cashing checks from Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company and AT&T settled a long-standing, class-action lawsuit on Friday, in which consumers sued them for ending unlimited data plans for iPads in 2010.
Those affected are set to collect settlements worth $40 in cash, plus data discounts. Any consumers who purchased an iPad 3G on or before June 7, 2010, can benefit from the settlement, according to court documents. Those who submit a claim will receive $40 cash from Apple. What's more, any iPad 3G owner who did not opt in to AT&T's data plan can now get a 5GB plan for the iPad 3G with a $20 monthly discount for up to one year.
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The ruling was announced Friday in a district court in San Jose, Calif. Apple and AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agreement comes years after the original lawsuit was filed back in 2010. At the time, Apple and AT&T had promoted unlimited 3G data plans to iPad 3G owners, only to take that option away after a number of iPads had already been sold. (AT&T instead sold users 2 GB of data for a $25 monthly fee.)
Plaintiffs in the case argued that this bait-and-switch move caused them to overpay for their iPads, and also "[deprived] them of promised access to an unlimited data plan," according to court documents.
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