Blackman v. Gascho
CCAF sought Supreme Court review for a challenge to a lopsided class action settlement agreement that left over 90 percent of the class with nothing while the lawyers got an outsized, 60 percent share of the settlement fund.
In re: Johnson & Johnson Derivative Litigation
The Center objected to a settlement that paid the class $0, established meaningless corporate governance changes, and paid the attorneys over $10 million: the court agreed that fees were excessive and reduced the request by $4.6 million.
In re: Magsafe Apple Power Adapter Litigation
In this settlement over Apple power adapters, the district court failed to appraise class relief compared to the $3M that the settlement awarded to plaintiffs’ lawyers, and ordered an abusive appeal bond when the objectors appealed to the Ninth Circuit. CCAF prevailed on appeal.
Online DVD Rental Antitrust Litigation
As a result of CCAF’s objection, more than $2.3 million was distributed to class members instead of unrelated organizations. The parties had originally requested that these dollars be awarded to organizations unrelated to the litigation, a practice known as cy pres.
In re: Dry Max Pampers Litigation
The Sixth Circuit agreed with CCAF that the district court should not have given credit to imaginary and illusory valuations of class relief. The landmark decision acknowledged that the fairness of a class settlement must be analyzed by how it treats class members versus class counsel-a distinction that far too many judges fail to make.
Fraley v. Facebook
In August 2013, the district court approved the final settlement and adopted some of CCAF’s arguments on injunctive relief, attorneys' fees, and increased the class-member award to $15 from $10, making several million dollars more available for the class by reducing the attorneys’ fees.
Sobel v. Hertz Corporation
The Center’s clients objected to this settlement over car rental fees wherein plaintiffs’ lawyers sought $1.5M for themselves but only coupons for the class; the court rejected the settlement.
Marek v. Lane
An opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts expressed concerns over the practice of cy pres, acknowledging the need for the Supreme Court to address the issue in a future case.
HP Inkjet Printer Litigation
The Ninth Circuit held that the Class Action Fairness Act requires that when class members obtain coupons in a settlement, the lawyers’ fees attributable to those coupons must themselves be based on the value of coupons that are redeemed.
In re: Classmates.com Consolidated Litigation
The Center’s client objected to a settlement over deceptive advertising that promised over $1M to plaintiffs’ lawyers and about $100,000 to the class. The court upheld the objection, eventually reducing the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ fees and sanctioning them for abusive litigation tactics.
