In what's believed to be the first time a federal appellate court has been given a chance to address the issue, the Center for Class Action Fairness filed a brief with the Seventh Circuit that attacks the mootness fee racket.
Yesterday, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed its opening brief in Alcarez v. Akorn, Inc., et al. CCAF is challenging an order denying CCAF’s intervention in three of six Akorn actions that were pending in the district court.
Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing is slated to begin Tuesday, September 4, at 9:30 a.m. before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is safe to say that the hearing will be replete with the usual senatorial posturing and pandering. But if they actually get around to asking the nominee some substantive questions, among those that loom largest is how Kavanaugh conceives of the judicial power. Given his dozen years on the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh…
Theodore Frank has been firing shots at so-called “cy pres” settlements—an especially controversial component of some class actions—for more than a decade. On October 31, he will take his crusade all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, lock, stock and barrel.
CCAF senior attorney Melissa Holyoak told me: “Attorneys’ fees should always be based upon and proportionate to the relief actually received by class members—that’s something we fight for on a regular basis.”
"Cy pres-only settlement arrangements embody the worst flaws of the class action settlement system and are notable in their disservice to consumers," said the coalition, which is led by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "In cy pres-only deals, defendants and class counsel secure their own goals from the litigation while bypassing the class."
“All you need to do is punish the attorneys that are overbilling in a few of these cases,” Frank says, adding that disciplinary sanctions need to be on the table for there to be a true deterrent.
Ted Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness is going to make history at the U.S. Supreme Court next term in Frank v. Gaos.
Law360 covers CCAF's Supreme Court case Frank v. Gaos.
Mealy's covers CCAF's Supreme Court case Frank v. Gaos.
