CCAF Objects to Egregious 30% Fee Grab by Counsel in Polyurethane Class Suit Settlement

CCAF attorney Anna St. John said, “If awarded in full, the excessive fee requested by class counsel would transfer to plaintiffs’ attorneys tens of millions of dollars that rightfully belong to class members. It’s an all-too-common example of attorneys purporting to represent consumers harmed by unlawful business practices, when in reality these attorneys try to harm those same consumers again by seeking far more than they are entitled to by law.”

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November 13, 2015
Press Releases

Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation

Class counsel sought 30% in fees -- over $45 million -- from the $150 million mega-fund and justifies the request with a lodestar that is both inadequately supported and based on numerous forms of over-billing. The district court reduced the excessive fee request by $9 million.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

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November 12, 2015
Victories

Walgreen Co. Stockholder Litigation

CCAF challenged strike suit that provided meaningless disclosures, prompting Seventh Circuit to adopt “plainly material” standard in order to approve such settlements. “Strike suits affect over 97 percent of mergers, costing businesses millions. We hope other courts follow Delaware and the Seventh Circuit in taking steps to shut down this racket.”

Image credit: Wikimedia

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November 5, 2015
Landmark Victories

Amicus Brief: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation

CCAF is concerned the Judicial Panel will not consider judicial track records in scrutinizing the fairness of settlements when deciding who to transfer the case to.

Photo credit: www.weisspaarz.com

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October 20, 2015
Press Releases

Colgate-Palmolive Softsoap Antibacterial Hand Soap Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation

CCAF objected to the settlement that would pay class counsel $2 million and would leave the class members with nothing but valueless labeling changes on a product defendant was no longer selling.

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August 10, 2015
Past Cases

Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation

The terms of the deal provided a $10 million fund to class members that, in reality, is unlikely to be exhausted, gave class counsel a disproportionate $6.75 million fee, and left a large subclass of class members with zero recovery.

Image credit: Hloom.com

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July 30, 2015
Victories

Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation

The Ninth Circuit declined to find that an intraclass conflicts that preclude a finding of adequate representation. That said, the district court reduced class counsel's request for attorneys' fees and expenses by over $5.1 million, for the benefit of the class.

Photo credit: M.Oertle

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April 17, 2015
Victories

Careathers v. Red Bull North America, Inc.

In a false advertising case, the Center objected to the settlement that gave class counsel $4.75M because it was based on an exaggerated value ($18.5M) of unidentified labeling changes. The district court approved the settlement, but reduced the fee request by $1.2M. The Center did not appeal.

Image credit: José Manuel Suárez

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March 14, 2015
Victories

American Express Anti-Steering Rules Antitrust Litigation

The Center for Class Action Fairness successfully objected to the settlement of an antitrust case where the class would only receive injunctive relief of uncertain value while class counsel seeks $75 million in fees.

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March 8, 2015
Victories

U.S. court voids payout of unclaimed funds in BofA class action

(Reuters) - A federal district judge abused her discretion in awarding a nonprofit money left over from a $490 million securities class-action settlement concerning the 1998 merger of BankAmerica and NationsBank that created Bank of America Corp, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

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January 8, 2015
Press Highlights