Today the Center for Class Action Fairness announced multiple victories in class action objections it filed in five class action settlements that will result in class members receiving over $5 million more than what their class attorneys were willing to negotiate.
So why did the attorneys get $2.1 million? Because of the economic fiction of "fees" and "expenses," which are calculated differently.
The briefing by the settling parties in support of final approval seemed exceptionally poor, though I admittedly have never been in a position where I've tried to defend an indefensible settlement.
The Center filed an objection today in the Northern District of California. Kabateck Brown Kellner, who we've seen before in the $0 AOL settlement and the $117k Classmates.com settlement, are among the lead attorneys in this ripoff as well.
The Ninth Circuit held that the Class Action Fairness Act requires that when class members obtain coupons in a settlement, the lawyers’ fees attributable to those coupons must themselves be based on the value of coupons that are redeemed.
