Nearly 155,000 people make claims in Vibram court case

Many of you are no doubt aware of the Vibram brand and their 5 finger shoes. Back in May 2014, there was a news item about how Vibram settled a legal case after falsely advertising that the shoes could reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles, without basing those assertions on scientific evidence.

While technically not guilty, the company did agree to a $3.75 million settlement. This was to take two forms...

The first is to refund customers who purchased a pair of Vibram FiveFingers between March 21, 2009 and the date of "the first dissemination of summary settlement notice or class notice, whichever is earlier". In this case, it's was thought that FiveFingers was going to award claimants between $20 and $50 per pair. With so many claims and legal and admin expenses, this in fact turned out to be just $8-$9 per pair.

The second is that claimants can get up to two pairs of shoes without any kind of receipt or proof of purchase.

The majority of the claims, 67 percent, were for two pairs of FiveFingers, the maximum number in the suit for which no proof of purchase was required. Less than a third of the claims, 28 percent, were for one pair, while 3 percent of the claims were for more than two pairs.

Roughly half of the $3.75 million settlement is expected to go towards admin and legal fees.

It would seem however as if this settlement only applies to Vibram FiveFinger customers in the USA. Vibram FiveFinger shoes currently sell for an average of $94 a pair in the US.