Odyssey Transmission

I bought my '01 Odyssey new in July of that year.  It's been reliable up until last year. During the summer of 2009, when the vehicle showed about 120K on the odometer, the transmission started slipping.  I was out of state when the it failed, and I had to get it repaired by a shop there (yes, the oft-quoted $3000).  Boy, talk about being at the mercy of strangers!  Anyway, the shop repaired it (or so I thought) and it was warranteed for 12K or 12M.  Last month, when (coincidentally) the warranty was about to expire because of miles, the tranny started slipping from first to second.  After all this trouble, it looks like I'll have to pay another $1000 to get the clutch pack replaced, and the infamous feeder lines.

My beef is with the fact that I was never notified of this class action suit.  Was the manufacturer (or dealer) obligated to tell me about it?  What mechanism exists to ensure that critical information like this is disseminated to the customer?  Because it's an '01 model and the class action was settled for these vans, does that mean I have no legal recourse with Honda?  Or with the dealer for that matter?  The summary of the settlement that I've read sounds quite confusing to this man with two post-graduate degrees. No doubt, it doesn't seem that future plaintiffs were covered at all.