MacNN News reports on an objection filed by the Center for Class Action Fairness which brings the Apple settlement case back to court to question the large attorney fees and expenses paid.
A settlement agreed to by Apple and a pair of legal firms over early Magsafe adapters and their tendency to fray has been kicked back to a federal district court for reconsideration by the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals over concerns that the original judge had failed to properly safeguard the deal from “self-dealing” between the class counsel and Apple. The court also found fault with Judge James Ware’s high barrier to appeal of the decision, requiring a $75,000 bond from objectors.
In a unanimous ruling, the court agreed with objector Theodore Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness that Ware — who is now retired, so another judge will reconsider the award — “rubber-stamped” a deal that “structured to obscure actual relief” through Apple’s agreement in advance to pay the suing legal firms up to $3 million of the award in attorney’s fees and $100,000 in expenses, which the court said “cannot relieve the district court of its duty to assess fully the reasonableness of the fee request.”
Read the full article at MacNN News.