FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCOTUS Punts in Cy Pres Case
“Day of Reckoning Delayed”
Vacates and Remands $8.5 Million Google Settlement to Ninth Circuit
WASHINGTON, DC (March 20, 2019) – In Frank v. Gaos (No, 17-961) the US Supreme Court today vacated the judgment and remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit to determine whether the plaintiff had standing to file the original claim.
SCOTUS granted certiorari to review whether a cy pres settlement satisfied the requirement that class settlements be “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” (Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 23 (e)(2).)
In his dissent, Justice Thomas wrote, “cy pres payments are not a form of relief to the absent class members and should not be treated as such.” Cy pres is a trust doctrine used by courts to distribute unclaimed dollars in class action settlements to third-party organizations unrelated to the case. Here, class members received $0, but the $8.5 million was instead divided between the attorneys and cy pres recipients, including class counsel’s alma maters and several organizations Google already supports through donations.
“This decision simply delays the day of reckoning for this unfair practice,” said Ted Frank, Director of Litigation and Senior Attorney at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (hlli.org) and the Center for Class Action Fairness.
“Justice Thomas’s dissent is particularly encouraging,” he continued.
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute has filed another cert petition in Perryman v. Romero (No. 18-1074), which raises many of the same issues.
CONTACTS:
Ted Frank 703.203.3848 or ted.frank@hlli.org
Rose Marshall 703.608.6612 or rosannamarshall12@gmail.com