Lely came under fire when a class action lawsuit was filed against the company for selling a faulty A4 milking system to more than 400 farmers and farms who bought approximately 1468 new A4 units. The company doesn’t agree with the assertions made in the lawsuit against them. However, the expense and time associated with ongoing trials have made them opt for the settlement in the best interest of both Lely and its employees. They have decided to resolve all claims with a $49.75 million settlement. Farmers who bought used A4 units aren’t eligible to participate in the benefits of the settlement.
Settlement website – LelyA4RobotSettlement.com
Objection deadline – 04/04/2023
Exclusion deadline – 04/04/2023
Claim Form – https://krugerlely.claims-administrator.com/
Deadline for submitting the claim – 06/05/2023
Final Hearing date – 07/24/2023
Settlement amount – $49.75 million
Potential claim amount – Variable
Proof of purchase – Proof of lease or purchase.
Lely is a seller of dairy farming equipment including milking systems like the Astronaut A5 or Lely A4 milking machines. Though Lely hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing, they have agreed to resolve all claims with a $49.75 million lawsuit. The settlement terms will benefit both entities and individuals in the United States who either leased or bought one or more new Lely A4 milking system robots between 2011 and 2018. The farmers jointly accused Lely of selling defective automatic robots which failed to increase milk quality or production as was promised. Rather it deteriorated the milk quality and harmed the cow’s health.
Class members are eligible for either a trade-in or getting cash payment under the terms of the settlement. The cash payment will be made on a pro-rata basis of the net settlement fund according to the number of A4 robots bought by the farmers. Thus, the actual cash payment will vary according to the number of class members who choose this option. The settlement website has estimated compensation per robot to be between $57000 and $168000.
Apart from the pro rata payments, class members are also eligible to receive a payment of $1000 for each A4 robot owned or leased alongside an extended warranty for each robot. Alternatively, the class members can get an additional cash payment of $7000 for each A4 robot. There is an option for class members to receive a trade-in offer in exchange for cash payments. The plaintiffs can trade in their A4 robot and get a standard model A5 robot at a discounted rate of $40000. The market price of these milking robots is approximately $150000, which is three times the discounted rate.