The wait is almost over. Your check is almost in the mail. About 30,000 Minnesotans filed claims in Dec. 2012 to collect $45 to $90 for each flat panel LCD TV, laptop and monitor purchased between January 1999 and December 2006,

The refunds are being issued because of a class action lawsuit against nine LCD screen manufacturers such as Hitachi, LG, Sharp, Samsung and Toshiba, who were found guilty of price fixing.

Almost two years and numerous appeals filed and dismissed, a San Francisco Court will consider a motion on Oct. 17 to start sending checks to claimants. The $1.1 billion settlement will be dispersed, minus lawyers' fees, to 235,000 consumers and businesses in 24 states.

San Francisco attorney Joe Alioto, who co-led the case against the manufacturers, did not want to say definitively that claimants would start getting their checks in November. "I've learned to never make an assumption before a court ruling," he said with caution. But Dan Shulman, a lawyer at Gray

Plant Mooty in Minneapolis, one of a dozen law firms that managed the settlement, said, "There are no impediments to the distribution of the money. We just need an order from the court."

Once the court gives the okay to start distributing checks, it is estimated it will be within four weeks, according to an e-mail distributed earlier this week to claimants.

Shulman said claimants will get $45 for each laptop or monitor and $90 for each TV, which is less than earlier reports of $75 per monitor and $150 per flat panel TV. After lawyers' fees, about $750 million will be distributed.

Original claims had to be mailed or submitted online by Dec. 6, 2012. Claimants whose address has changed since then can go to the LCDclass.com website to change it. They will need the claimant ID number provided when the claim was made online. (An e-mail was sent with the subject line " Confirmation of receipt of your online LCD Flat Panel Consumer Claim.") Claimants can also call 1-855-225-1886 to get their number if it cannot be found. (Press 7 for a representative after the two minute recorded message.) The address must be changed online with the claimant number. It cannot be changed by phone.