Someone posted this information in the AA Forum, and a few may realize that this was the thread that started the discussion of whether AA miles received for opening a checking/savings account (without a required use of the debit card) should have been reported as taxable income by Citi on a Form 1099, and, even if so, should those miles have been reported on the Form 1099 using the [Ludicrous] value of 2.5 cents per mile.
A lot of people who followed this issue used the FMV Prize Adjustment (or other tax compliance technique) to reduce the reported taxable income to a lower amount than 2.5 cents per mile, sometimes even going all the way down to 0 cents per mile. Of course, a few reported the full amount of taxable income reflected on the Form 1099, essentially valuing the miles at 2.5 cents each.
Over time, this issue declined in relevance on Flyertalk because Citi adopted some techniques, such as requiring the use of a debit card to get miles, that arguably allowed it to take the position that it was not required to issue a Form 1099 for miles awarded from opening checking/savings accounts. That has nothing to do with whether the miles are taxable, or at what value they should be reported as income if they are taxable. But the lack of a Form 1099 simply leaves Citi out of the argument.
For the years that Citi did issue a Form 1099 valuing the miles at around 2.5 cents per mile (which if a person did not follow the issue, was the value that customers occasionally purchased blocks of 1,000 AA miles needed to "top off" accounts in order to get the sufficient level of miles often needed for a trip) a lawsuit was filed. Citi has settled that lawsuit and it appears the recipients of those 1099s may now be entitled to money damages (or however Better Call Saul phrases it). I am not sure how much someone would get, what documentation is required, whether reducing the income by a FMV Prize Adjustment reduces the money damages (as it logically should), or whether anyone even cares about an issue that arose many years ago. But I found it of interest back then, and here is the class action settlement link.
https://hirschairlinemilessettlement.com/
I think it is kind of awesome that a law firm fought and won on this issue. It really was heavily discussed on this thread many years ago.