Buried on page B4 of Monday’s Journal, between the technology coverage and the classifieds, are two court-approved notices that could be worth real money to ordinary readers. One concerns the phone in your pocket; the other, a stock a lot of people sold in a hurry four years ago. Neither needs a lawyer, an app or a fee. Both need a date on the calendar.
First, the phone. Apple (AAPL) has agreed to pay $250 million to settle Landsheft v. Apple, a class action in federal court in San Jose alleging that buyers expected certain Apple Intelligence-powered Siri features on their new iPhones and didn’t get them. Apple denies wrongdoing. If you live in the U.S. and bought an iPhone 16, 16e, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max in the U.S. between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025 — not for resale — you’re in the class. Claims go in online at SmartphoneAISettlement.com or by mail postmarked by Dec. 21, 2026, which is also the date to opt out or object, and the final approval hearing is set for Feb. 24, 2027. The fund is split among claimants after court-approved fees, so what any one person gets depends on how many file.
The Twitter verdict
Second, the stock. In Pampena v. Musk, a federal jury in San Francisco found on March 20, 2026 that Elon Musk violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act with a false and misleading statement about his acquisition of Twitter, and that the stock was artificially deflated between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022. If you sold Twitter shares or call options, or bought put options, in that window, you’re a class member, and the notice says you can’t opt out at this stage — you either file or you collect nothing. The notice’s example: 1,000 shares bought before May 13, 2022 and sold on May 18 would be entitled to $7,940 plus interest, though any final award may be reduced proportionally for attorneys’ fees and expenses. Claim forms go in online or postmarked by Nov. 24, 2026 at TwitterAcquisitionLitigation.com.
A wry coda sits elsewhere in the same paper: the Journal’s TikTok story describes an Ohio mother paid to promote Collect, an app that finds class-action lawsuits to join, and told not to label the video as an ad. You don’t need an app to find these two. They’re printed in the newspaper, website included.
Our read
Unclaimed money is real money, and most of it goes unclaimed for the dullest reason: nobody checked. So check. Your phone’s purchase date is in your Apple account or on the receipt email; your 2022 trades are on the brokerage statements you were tempted to throw away, which is why we tell people to keep them for years. File directly on the official site named in the notice, never through a service that wants a cut, and never with a stranger who calls about a settlement and wants your Social Security number; legitimate administrators generally don’t cold-call for it. Consumer protection, in the end, is mostly a filing habit.
One more thing: the tax treatment of settlement money varies with what it compensates — a purchase versus a securities loss — so keep the paperwork for your preparer. Two dates on the calendar, one folder of statements. That’s the whole job.