PreCentral: Settlement reached in Palm Profile data loss class action suit

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Ah, this takes us back. If you've been around webOS long enough, you might remember the brouhaha of November 2009. Yes, two years back, back when you could get a Palm Pre or a Palm Pixi, on Sprint and only Sprint, the webOS world was rocked by the news that Palm Profile backups were becoming corrupted on the server and the data was rendered inaccessible - a problem for those that had elected to store years of accumulated Contacts, Calendars, Memos, and Tasks in their Palm Profile. Some users were able to get their data restored by Palm going back to their backups of the backups, but others were just plain lost, and the users understandbly upset.

Thus was born the class action lawsuit of Standiford v. Palm, Inc. and Sprint Spectrum, L.P.. The parties involved today announced that they have reached a settlement and will be going before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for final approval on May 31 of this year (two-and-a-half years after the backup failure was uncovered).

Being that this is a class action suit, you, the webOS smartphone owner, could sign on as a plaintiff. The only criteria you need meet are having created a Palm Profile on a webOS smartphone between 1 June 2009 and 26 January 2012 and having experienced permanent or temporary loss of access to your data stored in your Palm Profile account.

If your claim submission is deemed valid, you could stand to receive a substantial settlement. How substantial? How does up to three Alexander Hamiltons sound? That's right, $30 could be yours. Except it's not a cash settlement, no, that would be too easy. If you suffered a permanent data loss due to a Palm Profile backup failure, you'll be able to choose from a $30 HP Online Store credit (not an App Catalog credit - this is for printer ink or a mouse pad) or a $30 Sprint bill credit. And if your data loss was temporary and you're still seething about it thirty months later, you could get $20 - again for the HP Online Store or your Sprint bill.

The settlement is still pending approval at a fairness hearing, but considering that iPhone users disgruntled over their iPhone 4 antennae performance were offered a bumper case or $15, we'd guess this one's heading for approval. In the end, you get $30 and your contacts are still gone, while the lawyers make out with a briefcase full of cash.

If you're interested in signing on to the class action suit, hit up the source link below. Full details in press release form can be found after the break.

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