OrlandoSentinel.com 07-13-2009

More than 12,000 will get free Olive Garden appetizers in lawsuit settlement

July 13, 2009
By Sandra Pedicini

More than 12,000 people can get free appetizers courtesy of the Olive Garden, after a class action lawsuit settlement received final approval today.

Attorney Thomas Zimmerman, who represented the plaintiff, said that $9 appetizer vouchers will be mailed out in a month. They will be good for 120 days, he said.

The settlement stems from a 2007 federal lawsuit that accused Olive Garden of printing the last six digits of customers’ credit-card numbers on their receipts. The limit under the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act is five digits.

In all, 12,631 people submitted voucher requests by the deadline earlier this year. Those are the only ones eligible to receive the vouchers.