$13.86 Richer

Yesterday I received a letter from Jerry W. Kilgore, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia. It contained a check for $13.86, my payment as part of the class action lawsuit settlement brought against the music industry for collusion and price-fixing of compact discs. Score one for the little guy! Now, I’ve payed far more than $13.86 in overpriced CDs to the music industry during my tenure as a music-purchasing adult, but at least they got stung a little bit.

The real crazy thing here is that I got this check at all. I registered for this settlement back when I was living in Chicago. However, this check came to me to my new address from the Virginia Attorney General. How did they track me? I didn’t register my change of address with anybody related to this lawsuit. It’s amazing that the various state and federal agencies cross-referenced their information enough to get this check to me.

And a little scary.