In an objection filed Monday, class member Anna St. John, an attorney for a class action fairness group, said the deal unfairly enriches the attorneys involved and offers users only a scant, 22-word temporary change to one of Facebook's help pages.
"Cynical." That's the descriptor lawyers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Class Action Fairness used to describe a proposed no-cash deal Facebook Inc. reached to settle a privacy class action earlier this year.
The parties reached a lopsided settlement in which the plaintiffs' attorneys recover $3.9 million while the class gets injunctive relief consisting of 22 words regarding Facebook's practices added to a Facebook help page.
"Although these class members had their financial data stolen, they are releasing future-damages claims against Target in exchange for nothing," Holyoak said.
CCAF recently objected to the proposed class action settlement, class certification, and class attorneys' fees request in Kumar v. Salov North America Corp. on behalf of class member Ted Frank. The plaintiffs in this case alleged the defendant deceptively marketed their Filippo Berio brand olive oil as “Imported from Italy,” when many of the olives used to make the oil came from other countries.
On July 7, 2017, the district court granted final approval of the settlement, even though more than 80 percent of the settlement fund would go to class counsel rather than the class members.
“In a class action settlement with Citigroup shareholders, lawyers tried to direct a leftover balance from the settlement fund to advocacy groups that clash with the interests of class members,” said Ted Frank. “But now, after CEI objected to that unfair outcome, class attorneys have discovered a way to send those remaining settlement dollars to class members.”
CCAF objected Thursday to an unfair settlement that leaves class members with virtually nothing, their attorneys with over half of the settlement fund - $1.35 million - and most remaining funds to an unrelated organization.
CCAF represented an objector to a settlement over allegedly mislabeled food that proposes to pay class counsel over half the settlement fund, $1.35 million ($2593/hour), while ensuring that the class receives virtually no benefit.
A Massachusetts federal judge credits the Center for Class Action Fairness with helping him "evolve" his thinking on a complicated and controversial class action case.
