Posted by Lipcon Law Firm

In late 2006, Florida area coin collector Thomas Francisco hired attorneys Tucker Ronzetti and Chuck Lipcon to file a class action lawsuit relating to the misleading grading service designation First Strikes. In what turns out to have been separate actions, both PCGS and NGC were sued under consumer protection statutes for engaging in this misleading practice. (For the uninitiated, the designation First Strikes has nothing to do with when the coin was struck. The practice of designating coins as First Strikes is an embarrassment to many honest coin dealers, who refuse to handle them.)

The terms of the settlement between NGC and the class represented by Francisco are as follows:
NGC will pay $650,000 into a Settlement Fund, from which Francisco’s attorneys will receive fees of 30% ($195,000) and Francisco will receive $7,500. The remaining $447,500 will be donated to the American Numismatic Association (ANA), pending court approval.