Cy Pres You’ll Read This
Today, Washington Legal Foundation published a short and useful working paper authored by James M. Beck and Rachel B. Weil titled "Cy Pres" Awards: Is the End Near for a Legal Remedy With No Basis in Law?
Redman v. RadioShack, Inc. / oral argument today
As we discussed earlier, class counsel agreed to a settlement over RadioShack credit-card receipt legality that would have paid themselves $1 million, but the 16-million-member class 83 thousand coupons with a face value of $10.
Oetting v. Green Jacobson / Oral argument September 10 in 8th Circuit on cy pres
Bank of America settled a nationwide securities class action in the E.D. Mo. for hundreds of millions of dollars. For some reason, the district court judge ordered that $2 million or so of the settlement fund not be distributed immediately. By a few years later in 2013 (after interest and restitution from a settlement administrator employee that had embezzled from the settlement fund), there's $2.7 million left over. At the behest…
Judge Gives Preliminary OK to $75.5M Proposed Settlement in TCPA Class Action; Believed to be Largest of Its Kind
“I take no position on whether the size of the settlement fund adequately compensates class members for the value and risk of the litigation,” Frank said. “It does seem like a nuisance settlement, given Capital One's deep pockets, the large potential statutory liability, and the fact that most class members will not receive anything in the absence of a claim, which also militates for a much lower attorney fee. I haven't looked at detail yet whether the notice is acceptable.”
Opening brief in Redman v. RadioShack
RadioShack committed the sin of printing credit-card receipts with expiration dates on them, which exposed it to possible liability of $100 a receipt ($1000 if willful), a bankrupting sum. Class counsel settled for coupons. Our clients objected that the settlement did not comply with CAFA's limitations on coupon settlements, and was structured so that class counsel's benefit would outstrip that of the class.
Ninth Circuit win in Apple MagSafe case
Thursday, the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded for consideration under the appropriate legal standards, and was especially critical of the abusive appeal bond.
Wasserman on cy pres
University of Pittsburgh Law Professor Rhonda Wasserman has a paper on cy pres forthcoming in the USC Law Review, The paper discusses in detail two CCAF cases, In re Baby Products Antitrust Litig., and Marek v. Lane.
Opening brief in Pearson v. NBTY, Inc., No. 14-1198 (7th Cir.)
We've appealed: we don't think that the Rule 23(e) and Rule 23(h) fairness inquiries are to be done sequentially. NBTY put $6.5 million on the table; class counsel structured the settlement so the class got only a tiny fraction of that money, and ended up costing the class $2.6 million when their excessive fee request reverted to the defendant. We filed our opening brief last week.
In re Apple MagSafe Power Adapter Litigation oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Tuesday
The settlement was structured to pay the attorneys double their lodestar but make it difficult for class members to make claims, and few of them did.
Abusive appeal bonds
For all the plaintiffs' bar talks about "access to justice," many trial lawyers will not hesitate to run roughshod over a class member's right of appeal if they think it will short-circuit a meritorious appeal that would jeopardize an excessive fee award.
