Individual Challenging Attorney Fees Delays EA Football Pricing Settlement Payouts

The class action settlement that came down from the lawsuit that claimed EA raised the price of football games after securing exclusive licenses is now being held up by an individual taking issue with the cut the lawyers received in the deal. An extension to the period to make claims was enacted back in April with payouts expected to be made over the summer. That time frame now looks to be pushed back to next year according to Kotaku who reports on the person who filed an objection and is now appealing after its initial dismissal. 

The attorneys received $7.29 million in the settlement as well as $2 million for reimbursement of expenses. No one should be surprised by now that lawyers are the ones who make out the best in class action lawsuits.

The lawsuit filed in 2008 alleged that holding exclusive licenses for the major sports leagues allowed EA Sports to raise the price of the games due to the absence of competition. The settlement involved the company paying $27 million which would cover attorney fees and the remainder being split among class members. They also agreed not to hold exclusive rights with NCAA or Arena Football for a period of five years.

Originally the payouts were to be $6.79 (max of $54.32) for the Xbox/PS2/Gamecube generation and $1.95 (max of $15.60) for the 360/PS3/Wii gen. That was raised to $20.37 (max of $162.96) for the older gen and $5.85 (max of $46.80) when far fewer claims were made than anticipated.