I have asked him about this, and here are the most important points of the answer:

 * The lawyer will not have the authority to accept any settlement the client does not want.
 * The contingent fee only attaches to profits over the current settlement offer. (So accepting the USD value would earn him NOTHING.)
 * For customers not wanting to go on a contingent base, we can also do this hourly, and maybe it will resolve quickly and easily. (But don't hold your breath.)

  * * *

As for me, I am fine with the basic terms offered. (I have not yet signed anything specific. It's gonna happen in the next 12 hours, I guess.)

Quoting from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/arbitration-basics-29947-2.html:


So basically, we will have to present the same facts again and again, to new arbitrators in each case, who will make individual decisions.
We might win 80% and loose 20% of the cases, even if we are totally right.

I don't think we can spare the later cases by referring to precedents.

That being said, if HF realizes that it keeps loosing all the cases, they might settle the later ones, to spare the (futile) legal costs.

As far as I can tell, they will take X percent of our winnings (where 25 <= X <= 50), whatever the currency we win.
If X would be 50 (just an example), then
If I got back 50 BTC, he would take 25 BTC.
If I got back 50,000 USD, he would take 25,000 USD.

But as I have already mentioned:

Just mail him or phone him.
He can give you the details better than I could.

The lawyer has written this:

I guess he just would not like to put any more effort into this, if there is no real interest on our part?
(I have already gave him several hours of work, without paying anything.)

I think the usual amount is 25% - 50%. His offer is within that range, too.
It would be better if you contacted him directly about the specifics.

There is.

http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale

 Hi all.

 * Anybody not in Batch 1, don't read this.
 * Anybody in Batch 1 who believes that HashFast is going to do the right thing voluntary, without a gentle nudge from us, don't read this.
 * Anybody in Batch 1 who believes that the right way to deal with HashFast is to open more communication channels with them, don't read this.

For the rest of you:

I have found a lawyer who is willing to take our case, and help us get our BTC back, if we can cooperate.)

The name is Ray E. Gallo.

Please make up your minds about him; I think he is great. (85% winning percentage, and specialized in class and mass actions alleging large scale fraud.)

Some data:

http://gallo-law.com/attorneys/gallo.html
http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/94901-ca-ray-gallo-291467.html
http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/94901-ca-ray-gallo-291467/reviews.html    <= reviews
http://www.linkedin.com/in/raygallo

(Now I let you experienced Google detectives jump on him.)

  * * *

After exchanging around 100 mails with me, and analyzing all the documents and evidence with his team, he thinks we can probably win this case for Batch 1 customers who have paid in BTC. (But of course there is no guarantee.)

As you all know, class action is forbidden by the (ever-changing) Terms of Service, but (by the nature of thing) "mass action" is not, and can not be.
So we can proceed in a “mass” basis: the same attorney working with multiple clients simultaneously.

This is like a class case in that it will give us some leverage by aggregating claims so that we can do more work on the matter.
It’s different in that they can make us try (arbitrate) every case.
(Which means that individual cases might end with success or failure independently of each other, but we can optionally pool the results, if we want to reach a fair distribution at the end.)

  * * *

Since the legal costs are (usually) pretty high, this might well be the only way to go for small customers like me, who have only bought 1 or 2 units.
(It would not make any economic sense to hire a such a strong lawyer on my own, but together, we might be able to make it.)

Ray Gallo is ready to take the case on a contingent basis, so we don't have to pay up-front; his fee comes down from the money recovered from HashFast, if we win.

The key to make this work is to collect enough participants.
He said that he is willing to take the case if there are at least around 30 Baby Jet worth of customers.


Now the question is, how many of you would you willing to participate in such an arrangement? I have 1 BJ.

DISCLAIMER: I know others are also talking to other lawyers, too. I'm not saying that everybody should stop what they are doing and stop proceeding along those lines; I
am just saying that this looks like a very good opportunity to me.

Anybody who is interested, please contact him directly via his own page, which I have linked above.

The deadline is this Friday. We have to collect enough customers by then.

Best wishes:

    fenwick

TXN id is 9559f845b5d0b7f628f60127dc865a0e555d0e4848bce9dc1c7a0fbd52733210
Target address is 1QFqeQiE1SswqoqMNnzkiigmyHqfy3bkbo

Hi all, a really stupid question.

How do I tell whether I have paid BTC via BitPay, or directly to their wallet?

My comments were approved, but that's too little, too late.

Anybody has ever seen a ToS version not covered here?

http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale

(Especially early versions, from August / September, either from the web, or from emails.)

We are trying to sort out all versions and modifications of the terms of sale,
and publish it here:

  http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale

We need more data points.

If you got an order confirmation letter after a purchase you have made in august,
with a Terms of Sale attached to it, or you have a web snapshot from a date not
already mentioned at the above page, could you please publish it?
(Or send me?)

   * * *

Please note that this is important, because these terms are most likely going to be base of any legal claims.

One thing is already apparent: at least in some cases, the ToS versions they have sent out in order confirmation emails do not seem to be the same version which was present on the web when the order was made.

We have web snapshots from both the 25th and the 28th of August, here:

http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale/25_August_2013
http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale/28_August_2013

The changes between these versions are minimal:

    Changed: Spelling: Hashfast -> HastFast
    Added: terms for wire transfer payment

However, at least the versions sent out in order confirmation mails for orders made around the 26th of August are totally different:

http://hashfast.org/Terms_of_Sale/27_August_2013

There are many differences.
(Full analysis coming later.)

We need more data points, so please publish what you have.

IANAL, but since in this case, we are dealing with a guaranteed delivery date, this clause is not relevant for the current sitatuation. (Just like the whole "Other Delivery Dates" section in the PURCHASE AND PAYMENT part.)

No, not your mistake, imho.

HashFast has intentionally implied that they shipped you a production unit, as part of the normal shipping process.

Start reading from here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262052.msg4232933#msg4232933

Unfortunately, the first snapshot it has is from the 1st of November.
The most interesting changes happaned in August / September.

We need to rely on snapsohts saved by individuals,
and on the versions enclosed in order confirmation emails.

Invitations have been sent to everybody except the G-J section.

If somebody tosses me the addresses for that section, I can invite them, too.

I am one of the organizers of the list.
I can confirm that I am a customer, and I would like to talk to the other customers,
including the ones already present on this forums, but also to the other, less active parties.

I am aware that I don't have any reputation here, but I still want to get this going.
I am willing to give up admin rights as soon as the list has launched.
If anybody else wants to take over, that's fine with me, too.

I want to "get my bitcoins back", but I think since only a few of the customers have paid in USD, the BTC people (including me) could shared the refunded BTC evenly with the USD people.

We could fight together to get all the BTC back where possible, and also to punish them.