Packard Bell Electronics Corp has resolved the remaining legal issues arising from the recycling of some components from returned personal computers. In the first settlement, affecting computers first marketed after December 31 this year, Packard Bell entered into an assurance of voluntary compliance with the attorneys general of 22 US states, agreeing that if it sold a new computer which includes components that had been used in a previously sold computer, it would provide information on the outside of the carton that the product may include components from a previously sold computer, and it will pay the states $70,000 each for their costs and attorneys’ fees. On the matter of recycled parts in personal computers sold to government agencies and through stores on US military posts, the company agreed to settlement of a lawsuit brought in Los Angeles that calls for dismissal of the suit and releases Packard Bell from all claims and allegations in the action on payment of $3.5m as part of the settlement. No fines or penalties will be paid by the firm.
