The San Francisco Superior Court recently granted preliminary approval of the settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by the California Attorney General, alleging that many California government entities were harmed by price fixing of cathode ray tubes used in devices like computer monitors and televisions. Under the proposed settlement of State of California, et al. v. Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd., et al., the two defendants, Chunghwa and Phillips Electronics, agree to pay a total of $800,000 into a settlement fund created by the Attorney General. After deductions for administrative costs and attorney’s fees, the balance of the settlement fund will be distributed in the form of technology-related grants to charity organizations as well as local and state government entities.

The court has set a hearing for final approval of the settlement for October 18.

As class members, California government entities may: (1) do nothing; (2) opt out of the class; or (3) object to the terms of the settlement. Doing nothing or objecting to the terms may result in a governmental entity being entitled to apply to the Attorney General for one of the technology-related grants if the settlement is approved. Opting out preserves an entity’s right to individually sue the defendants, but renders it ineligible for a grant.