Steele et al. v. PayPal, Inc. et al.

**Kovich** · #1 08-29-08, 12:51 PM

Hello everyone.

Today I received an E-Mail to the address listed under my PayPal Account, and it seemed awfully suspicious.

I figured it would be a good idea to post it here and gather your thoughts on it.

One of the most suspicious paragraphs I noticed in this, was them directing the reader not to reply to the E-Mail or contact PayPal.

I am wondering if this E-mail is legitimate, and if it was even sent by the group they claim to be represented by. Perhaps it was one of those programs where you can send E-mail and the From: can say any address. Therefore, if we were to reply, it would go to the E-Mail of that group, thereby notifying them of these people's actions.

Anyway, if you could take a look at it and let me hear your thoughts, I would appreciate it.

Subject: Federal Court's Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement. Please Read.
From: steelesettlement@tgcginc.com
Date: Fri, August 29, 2008 7:00 am

Quote:

Steele et al. v. PayPal, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 1:05-CV-01720 (ILG)(VVP)
steelesettlement.com

Quote:

Notice from Federal Court. Please Read.

You may be eligible to receive a benefit from a class action settlement if
you funded a PayPal transaction using a source other than your credit card
between February 1, 2004 and the present.

A federal court has directed that this notice be sent to inform you of a
proposed class action settlement. Records show that you may be eligible to
receive a benefit under the proposed settlement.

The settlement will resolve a lawsuit against eBay Inc. and PayPal, Inc.
(collectively, "Defendants") involving claims arising out of representations
in the PayPal User Agreement regarding PayPal's policies and practices for
responding to refund requests from those customers who pay for transactions
through PayPal using funds from funding sources other than credit cards.
Under the settlement, Defendants have agreed to establish a settlement fund
of $3.5 million to pay claims to potential class members. The proposed Class
is defined as:

all U.S. based PayPal account holders who funded a PayPal transaction after
February 1, 2004, using a source other than a credit card: (i) who
subsequently requested a reversal of the transaction through PayPal's
prevailing Buyer Complaint Policy and/or Buyer Protection Policy
(collectively, "Policies"); (ii) who did not receive a refund equal to 100%
of their transaction payment in response to such request from PayPal or their
bank; and (iii) who, through the timely submission of a Claim Form under
oath, attest to a reasonable and good faith belief that they would have
received a full reversal of such payment had they used a valid credit card in
their possession at the time of the subject transaction to fund the payment
and filed a timely chargeback request with their credit card issuing bank.
Excluded from the Class are any judicial officer to whom this Litigation is
assigned; PayPal, eBay and any of its affiliates; any current or former
employees, officers, or directors of PayPal or eBay; any Persons currently
residing outside of the United States; and, all Persons who timely and
validly request exclusion from the Class pursuant to the Notice.

To see if you are a Class Member and to obtain full notice of the Settlement,
the required procedures, the deadlines, your obligations, and your options,
you must visit steelesettlement.com. This email is only a brief summary
of the full notice that is posted on the website.

If you are an eligible Settlement Class Member, you have rights, obligations,
and options under the proposed settlement. You have until December 14, 2008
to file your Claim Form and Certification Form. Your legal rights are
affected whether you act or not.

1. Submit The Claim Form And The Certification Form By Mail

This is the only way to get a settlement payment. You must: (1) print and
fill out the Claim Form and return it by mail to the address provided on the
Claim Form; and (2) print the Certification Page of your Claim Form, sign it,
and return it by mail to the address provided on the Claim Form. Your Claim
Form and signed Certification Page must be mailed and postmarked no later
than December 14, 2008. For more information on these deadlines, the
Effective Date of the settlement, the Claim Form procedures, and the
settlement benefit, you must visit steelesettlement.com.

2. Exclude Yourself – Opt Out of the Settlement

If you do not want to remain a member of the Class and participate in the
Amended Settlement, then you may exclude yourself (opt-out) from the Class by
mailing or delivering (email is not permitted) your written request. Your
original, signed request for exclusion must be RECEIVED on or before October
31, 2008 and mailed to the following address:

PayPal/Steele Class Action Settlement
c/o The Garden City Group, Inc.
P.O. Box 9309
Dublin, OH 43017-4209

Your request for exclusion must contain your name and address, be signed by
you, and include the reference "Steele et al. v. PayPal, Inc. et al., Civil
Action No. 1:05-CV-01720." If you exclude yourself from the Class, you will
not participate in the Amended Settlement and will not receive any payment
from the Amended Settlement.

3. Object

Write to the Court about why you do not like the settlement. Your objection
must be filed with the Clerk of the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn Main Office, 225 Cadman Plaza East,
Brooklyn, New York 11201, no later than October 31, 2008. Pursuant to the
Court's Order, you may not be heard on or entitled to contest the Court's
decision unless you have filed written objections no later than October 31,
2008. A hearing ("Settlement Hearing") shall be held before Hon. I Leo
Glasser on November 17, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. at the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of New York, Courtroom 8B South, 225 Cadman
Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

4. Do Nothing

You will automatically be included in the Settlement Class and give up your
right to be part of any other lawsuit about the claims in this case, but you
will not be eligible to receive a settlement benefit unless you submit a
Claim Form.

To get complete information about the proposed Settlement, the required
procedures, the deadlines, your obligations, and your options, you must visit
steelesettlement.com.

Please do not contact PayPal, or PayPal's customer support about this Notice,
or the Settlement. Instead, you must visit steelesettlement.com for
complete information about the proposed Settlement, the required procedures,
the deadlines, your obligations, and your options.

Please do not reply to this message. We are unable to respond to inquiries
sent in reply to this email. To contact us, please access the official
settlement website at steelesettlement.com.

lunchbox · #2 08-29-08, 01:09 PM

If it's not from PayPal itself, I'm almost completely sure it's not legitimate. Their website looks kind of cheesy too.

**Ich_Bin_Butler** · #3 08-29-08, 02:12 PM

I'd recommend contacting the people they claim to be. It's probably a mistake or, more likely, a fake altogether.

**Kovich** · #4 08-29-08, 05:51 PM

I wrote to the Garden City Group and received a surprising response! Apparently, this is legitimate. They replied three times though, on three different E-Mail Addresses.

Quote:

Subject: Steele Settlement
From: SteeleSettlement@gardencitygroup.com
Date: Fri, August 29, 2008 4:58 pm

Quote:

Dear Mr. Kovich,

Thank you for your email. Hopefully this response will clarify this matter
for you.

By Order of the Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of New York directed The Garden City Group, Inc., the
Court-appointed Settlement Administrator, to send Email Notice to inform
potential class members of this Class Action Settlement. The email you
received from steelesettlement@tgcginc.com is the Court approved Email
Notice sent at the direction of the Court. If you funded a PayPal
transaction using a source other than a credit card during the period
February 1, 2004 through the present, you may be eligible to receive a
benefit from this class action settlement. The Email Notice is only a
brief summary. To find out if you are a Class Member and to obtain full
notice about the Settlement, the required procedures, the deadlines, your
obligations, and your options, you must visit the official settlement
website at Steele Settlement Website.

Sincerely,

steelesettlement@tgcginc.com (dm)

Quote:

Subject: Steele Settlement
From: GCGSeattleCallCenter@gardencitygroup.com
Date: Fri, August 29, 2008 4:59 pm

Quote:

Dear Mr. Kovich,

Thank you for your email. Hopefully this response will clarify this matter
for you.

By Order of the Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of New York directed The Garden City Group, Inc., the
Court-appointed Settlement Administrator, to send Email Notice to inform
potential class members of this Class Action Settlement. The email you
received from steelesettlement@tgcginc.com is the Court approved Email
Notice sent at the direction of the Court. If you funded a PayPal
transaction using a source other than a credit card during the period
February 1, 2004 through the present, you may be eligible to receive a
benefit from this class action settlement. The Email Notice is only a
brief summary. To find out if you are a Class Member and to obtain full
notice about the Settlement, the required procedures, the deadlines, your
obligations, and your options, you must visit the official settlement
website at Steele Settlement Website.

Sincerely,

steelesettlement@tgcginc.com (dm)

Quote:

Subject: Steele et al. v. PayPal, Inc. et al.
From: GCGSeattleCallCenter@gardencitygroup.com
Date: Fri, August 29, 2008 4:52 pm

Quote:

Dear Mr. Kovich,

Thank you for your email. Hopefully this response will clarify this matter
for you.

By Order of the Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of New York directed The Garden City Group, Inc., the
Court-appointed Settlement Administrator, to send Email Notice to inform
potential class members of this Class Action Settlement. The email you
received from steelesettlement@tgcginc.com is the Court approved Email
Notice sent at the direction of the Court. If you funded a PayPal
transaction using a source other than a credit card during the period
February 1, 2004 through the present, you may be eligible to receive a
benefit from this class action settlement. The Email Notice is only a
brief summary. To find out if you are a Class Member and to obtain full
notice about the Settlement, the required procedures, the deadlines, your
obligations, and your options, you must visit the official settlement
website at Steele Settlement Website.

Sincerely,

steelesettlement@tgcginc.com (dm)

Looks like I'll be jumping on board then - I meet the criteria to receive compensation.

**Kovich** · #5 08-29-08, 06:04 PM

Here are the official Court Documents:

http://www.steelesettlement.com/complaint.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/stip.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/prelim.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/prelimexhibits.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/amendedprelim.pdf

**Kovich** · #6 08-29-08, 06:11 PM

I am going to try contacting PayPal about this directly, and I will let you know.

shopcarpro · #7 08-30-08, 12:32 AM

I am also eligible for comp big time.

And will verify the facts asap.

eBay Paypal have ripped off many people for 10 times the amount they agree/d to pay if this is true.

Keep the antennas high.

Xalt · #8 08-30-08, 01:53 AM

[quote=Kovich;28936]Here are the official Court Documents:
quote]

I have been investigating this email and it's legitimacy myself.
What has been the deciding factor for me, in concluding that it is false, are these clauses in their apparent "official court order" amendedprelim.pdf

b. The Long-Form Notice will also be published via a hypertext link located within
the website w ww.paypal.com, on the “Legal Agreements” page, which is available to both
current and former PayPal users. This link will stay active on PayPal’s website throughout the
entire Notice Period.

and

d. During the Notice Period, PayPal shall cause the approved summary form of
Publication Notice (in a form substantially similar to that attached as Exhibit C to the Amended
Settlement Agreement) (“Publication Notice”), to be published in one daily issue and one
weekend issue of the national edition of USA Today.

There is no mention of this case on the PayPal site and I have not been able to locate any reference to USA Today articles on the net. It is also interesting to note that there are no Exhibit A, B or C attachments, as stated in the document.

Although these documents may look legit, I assure you I can whip up a similar document in 15mins detailing court action between Xalt and PayPal asking you to send me your personal details for a refund ( I would offer you a million each BTW, as I am far more generous ).

It is also interesting that these 'official court documents' all originate from the site issuing the email, which seems to be the only site on the net containing any 'official' information regarding this case.

My conclusion is that it's bogus.

**Kovich** · #9 08-30-08, 02:17 AM

I sent an E-Mail to PayPal and am hoping to receive a response sometime this morning. Hopefully they'll be able to either confirm or deny this.

After reading through the documents further, I found the name of the Federal Court Judge who apparently is overseeing this case: Glasser, Israel Leo

Edit: This is all I can find: Judges of the United States Courts

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down any sort of contact information for him or his office. If you can find it - please relay it to me as soon as possible.

I examined PayPal's Legal Agreements Page and also didn't see any reference to this case on it.

The biggest issue here is that I contacted the organization representing this case: The Garden Group, and they confirmed the validity of this. You may see that in my posts above where I copied and pasted the responses I received. And again, that only brought more confusion into the picture because I received the same letter from three addresses almost instantly after one another.

Take a look at their site, and tell us what you think:
Garden City Group - Garden City Group

I'll keep you all updated.