RALEIGH–Shanahan Law Group of Raleigh is urging qualified businesses to file their claims against Microsoft in the $89 million North Carolina settlement “so as not to leave money on the table.”
Reef Ivey, lead counsel for Shanahan in the NC suit says the settlement gives companies in the state an opportunity to defray the cost of upgrading their existing software and hardware through claimed vochers.
Businesses and individuals that purchased stand alone Microsoft software or computers loaded with Microsoft Operating Systems (i.e., Windows or DOS) and/or Microsoft Applications (i.e., Office, Word or Excel) between December 1995 and December 2002 are eligible to submit claims by July 26, 2004.
Claims will be paid on a “per license” basis, meaning that businesses with large numbers of computers can benefit greatly by participating in the settlement. Help for filing a claim is available via the internet and a toll-free number. Qualifying businesses may have claims worth thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
David Stellings, a partner in the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein of New York and San Francisco explains, “If an eligible business with 1,000 employees in North Carolina replaced their computer operating systems and two software applications twice during the class period, it would have a $40,000 claim in the settlement.”
The law firm also is involved in anti-trust cases against Microsoft in several other states.
