Baby Products Antitrust Litigation

Settlement Insurance Shows Need for Court Skepticism in Class Actions

A plaintiffs’ attorney and an insurance executive have created a business, Risk Settlements, that offers a “post-lawsuit settlement insurance product specifically designed to manage settlement risk, cap exposure and provide certainty to the uncertain world of class action settlements.” That this business model is viable—and that it purports to save class-action defendants millions of dollars in claims-made settlements—demonstrates the need for courts to provide scrutiny of what class-action settlements actually provide consumers.

Settlement Insurance Shows Need for Court Skepticism in Class Actions

Cy Pres You’ll Read This

Today, Washington Legal Foundation published a short and useful working paper authored by James M. Beck and Rachel B. Weil titled "Cy Pres" Awards: Is the End Near for a Legal Remedy With No Basis in Law?

<em>Cy Pres</em> You’ll Read This

Wasserman on cy pres

University of Pittsburgh Law Professor Rhonda Wasserman has a paper on cy pres forthcoming in the USC Law Review, The paper discusses in detail two CCAF cases, In re Baby Products Antitrust Litig., and Marek v. Lane.

Wasserman on <em>cy pres</em>

Toys ‘R’ Us $35 Million Antitrust Accord Overturned

“The settlement has resulted in a troubling, and, according to counsel for the parties, surprising allocation of the settlement fund,” the judges said. “Though the parties contemplated that excess funds would be distributed to charity after the bulk of the settlement fund was distributed to class members through an exhaustive claims process, it appears the actual allocation will be just the opposite.”

Toys ‘R’ Us $35 Million Antitrust Accord Overturned

Third Circuit win

We won reversal of the settlement approval in the Baby Products, No. 12-1165 (3d Cir. Feb. 19, 2013). The settlement had paid $14M to the attorneys, but less than $3M to the class.

Third Circuit win

Cy pres in the First and Third Circuits

Coincidentally, the same day, the Center for Class Action Fairness filed its opening brief relating to the yet-to-be-proposed multi-million-dollar cy pres distribution in In re Baby Products.

<em>Cy pres</em> in the First and Third Circuits

Baby Products Antitrust Litigation

The Third Circuit held that the disproportionate ratio requires scrutiny from a district court, and that courts and class counsel should not be indifferent to whether recovery goes to class members or cy pres. On remand, the parties modified the settlement to provide approximately $15 million of additional direct recovery to class members, and the district court awarded CCAF fees for its role in improving the settlement.

<em>Baby Products Antitrust Litigation</em>
Photo credit: Raysonho
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