Nearly a year ago, several people sued LG, claiming that numerous models that got caught in an endless “bootloop” error were unusable and therefore fatally defective.

The affected models—the G4, G5, V10, V20, and the Nexus 5X—represent all of LG's flagship smartphones released in 2015 and 2016. LG contracted with Google in 2015 to manufacture the Nexus 5X, its inexpensive flagship phone.

In June 2017, the proposed class-action lawsuit was ordered to arbitration, according to the terms of sale. Many companies have similar language in their employment and sales contracts—arbitration nearly always benefits corporate interests over individual ones.

However, Ars has learned that LG has now privately settled the arbitration claims that stemmed from the original lawsuit, Chamberlain v. LG, which was first filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

Arbitration is a private, quasi-legal procedure originally designed to expedite disputes between corporations. Hearings have the trappings of a court hearing—arbitrators are often retired judges—except that they are wholly private. Even worse for consumers is that in the world of arbitration, there is no possibility of class-action claims. Arbitration proceedings are additionally nearly always shrouded from public view, so it is traditionally difficult to find out how many other people have been affected by the same issue.

Under the terms of the settlement, clients of the firm that filed Chamberlain, Girard Gibbs, will receive either $425 cash or a $700 rebate toward the purchase of a new phone.

Some media outlets erroneously reported on Thursday that this settlement is for all LG customers who bought the affected phones. As the lawsuit was never formally certified as a class-action by the judge, terms of the agreement likely remain limited to hundreds of people even though the estimated total of people who bought those five handsets is likely to be in the millions.

However, according to the Girard Gibbs website, LG will now extend the warranty for all customers who bought those specific models from 12 months since the date of purchase to 30 months.

LG did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment. Its customer service department can be reached here.