CCAF's objector contended that only 25% of the cash fund should be awarded to the attorneys until the actual redemption rate of coupons is known. Prior to the fairness hearing, class counsel agreed to defer fees pending coupon redemption, thus resolving Faber's primary objection.
Much like the Google referrer case that CCAF argued before the Supreme Court, plaintiffs' attorneys have achieved a settlement worth a fraction of pennies-on-the-dollar, then argued that the modest recovery excuses them from actually having to benefit class members. Class member David Lowery objects.
The Center for Class Action Fairness objected on behalf of two class members to the infamous Equifax data breach class action settlement. The settlement is rooted in a fundamental failure to adequately represent the class.
CCAF successfully represented Prof. Todd Henderson, who objected to a settlement that provides him $4.50 and all class members put together less than one seventh of the $6.85 million attorneys' fee request, premised on a “$27 million” injunction that did nothing.
CCAF filed an objection on July 11, 2019 arguing that because this is a megafund settlement, any fee award should be significantly less than the 25% benchmark. Plaintiffs' counsel also drastically overstate their lodestar with millions of dollars of work by contract attorneys billed at excessive rates.
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute successfully represented an objector in Stericycle Securities Litigation, where all of the attorneys are supporters of Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who has sole control over one of the named plaintiffs. The Seventh Circuit vacated the fee award on appeal, and plaintiffs’ counsel agreed with HLLI to reduce their excessive fee request, to avoid further litigation.
Samsung sold top-loading washing machines that sometimes violently vibrate and “explode,” but the settlement provides mostly mail-in rebates to class members. Attorneys should not be able to guarantee a generous fee award for themselves while class members are stuck at best with rebate coupons that require them to buy again from the allegedly negligent defendant. The district court reduced the fee award, but otherwise approved the settlement.
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute represents an objector to the settlement of Littlejohn v. Ferrara Candy Co., which pays attorneys $600 to $1170/hour, but provides absolutely nothing to class members in exchange for waiving their monetary claims.
Class member and CCAF director Ted Frank successfully objected to the settlement of Cowen v. Lenny & Larry’s, Inc., which would have provided class members at most $350,000 but paid attorneys $1.2 million in hard cash—not cookies.
Class member and CCAF attorney Adam Schulman objected to a slack fill settlement that provides class members with worthless labeling changes.
