FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC – On Friday, the Eleventh Circuit added HLLI’s appeal of the Southern District of Florida’s approval of an unfair settlement to the tentative calendar for oral argument. HLLI’s appeal, Williams v. Frank, No. 22-11232 (11th Cir.), should be heard by the Court sometime in late February 2023.
According to HLLI attorney John Andren, “this case present an ideal opportunity for the Eleventh Circuit to correct the rampant misapplication of one of its unpublished opinions by lower courts in rubber-stamping unfair class action settlements, and provide proper instruction to the entire circuit that the amendments to Rule 23 mean what they say: ‘courts must independently assess the distribution of settlement funds between attorney’s fees and what class members actually receive from the settlement.”
HLLI’s appeal arose from its objection to a settlement involving false labeling claims against nootropic Neuriva. The settlement reached by class counsel and Neuriva’s manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser LLC allocated almost $3 million to attorneys while distributing to the class just over $1 million. Representing its founder and Director of Litigation Ted Frank, HLLI objected to the lopsided settlement as unfair and plainly at odds with the text of Rule 23.
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute is a nonprofit public interest law firm formed in 2019. HLLI challenges administrative and regulatory actions and abuses of the class action and civil justice system that exceed constitutional limits, promote rent-seeking, or otherwise improperly created deadweight loss; and challenges improper restrictions on speech and other actions beyond constitutional bounds.
For more information about this case, please contact:
Ted Frank, 703-203-3848, ted.frank@hlli.org
Frank Bednarz, 801-706-2690, frank.bednarz@hlli.org
John Andren, 703-582-2499, john.andren@hlli.org