A deal resolving claims that online consumers were automatically enrolled in a rewards program will stand, but the $8.7 million fee for class counsel must be recalculated, the Ninth Circuit held Oct. 3.
“We are gratified that the court rejected class counsel’s attempt to evade the Class Action Fairness Act’s restrictions on coupon settlements, but the fact that the court was willing to countenance attorneys choosing to prefer their alma mater and local San Diego schools to nationwide class recovery while collecting 15 to 40 times as much as their clients shows why the Supreme Court needs to reverse in Frank v. Gaos. We are considering our options for further review.”
While Judge Durkin refused Frank’s request to intervene as a litigant, the judge said the plaintiffs’ attorneys must address Frank’s contentions concerning the Walgreen decision before allowing the attorneys to keep their fees.
Director of Litigation and Senior Attorney Ted Frank discussed class action lawsuits on Lawsuit Watch, hosted by Curt Schroder.
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.
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.
